Seventeen aircraft and 800 people will relocate to Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, while Ellsworth Air Force Base, in South Dakota, is readied for the arrival of the B-21 Raider.
Beginning this month, the U.S. Air Force will temporarily transfer 17 B-1B Lancer bombers and 800 Airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, to Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota. The relocation is expected to last about 10 months, during which Ellsworth will undertake all the works required to welcome the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider.
While at Grand Forks, the BONEs (the unofficial nickname of the bomber, from B-One) of the 28th Bomb Wing, will still carry out their usual assignments.
According to Col. Derek Oakley, the wing’s commander, the runway work is a big step toward getting ready for the Raider. He also noted how it reflects the Air Force’s dedication to the long-range bomber program and its impact on the local community.
“The runway construction at Ellsworth is a key milestone in ensuring we’re ready to receive the B-21 Raider. This project illustrates the U.S. Air Force’s commitment to our nation’s newest long-range strike bomber and to the surrounding community.”
In a press release, the U.S. Air Force said that Ellsworth residents might see more construction-related activity, while people living near Grand Forks should expect heavier military traffic and aircraft noise as operations ramp up.
The first two Ellsworth’s bombers are expected to arrive at their “new” base this week, ahead of the full fleet’s arrival in early 2025. Routine inspections and repairs will take place at Grand Forks, but larger maintenance tasks will be handled by the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas. From there, Ellsworth bombers were launched in Global Strike missions in Iraq and Syria: in the night between Feb. 2 and 3, 2024, they took part in the air strikes on seven facilities, which included more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militias used to attack U.S. and Coalition Forces in northeastern Jordan which had killed three U.S. soldiers on Jan. 28.
The 319th RW at Grand Forks AFB, is the headquarters operating the RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance unmanned aircraft launched and flown remotely all over the world. Supporting a critical Air Force mission, sensor operators of the 319th RW analyze pattern-of-life data to help protect NATO’s eastern flank and oversee several strategically important operational areas.
Col. Tim Monroe of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing highlighted the benefits of integrating B-1 operations into Grand Forks’ existing drone-focused setup, which uses RQ-4B Global Hawks for surveillance worldwide:
“There’s no doubt integrating the B-1 community into our Grand Forks Unmanned Aerial System ecosystem will pay dividends for everyone involved. This temporary relocation is the vanguard of Air Force integration, readiness, and agile combat employment, and epitomizes the mantra of One Team, One Fight.”
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Once Ellsworth’s runway upgrades are completed, the bombers and Airmen will head back home, paving the way for the B-21 Raider’s arrival in the mid-2020s.
Ellsworth was selected as the first B-21 Raider base after it cleared an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report in 2021. Whiteman and Dyess AFBs in Missouri and Texas, respectively, were later designated the second and third bases for the bomber by Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall in mid-September.
Grand Forks was previously a B-1B base, until the bombers were relocated in 1994. In anticipation of the possible relocation, a hot-pit refueling, the first in 30 years at the base in North Dakota, was carried out by the 28th BW with support by the 319th Reconnaissance Squadron, on Oct. 1, 2024, to assess the possibility of relocating the bombers. In fact, while the majority of the physical infrastructures, including the required runway length, ordnance storage capacity, and aircraft refueling equipment, are still present, the 29th BW and the 319th RS still had to demonstrate the ability to operate the B-1B from non-home base locations.
#Airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base & Grand Forks AFB performed B-1B Lancer hot-pit refueling operations, supporting B-1 operations 30 years after the last B-1s left Grand Forks in 1994.
Take a look:https://t.co/tuUa91U7FI@AFGlobalStrike pic.twitter.com/t7dvMJSpEZ
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) October 8, 2024
