AeroVironment (AV) has expanded its partnership with GrandSKY, the commercial UAS business park located near Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB) in North Dakota, to deploy an integrated counter-drone architecture aimed at protecting critical U.S. infrastructure.
The collaboration marks the next step in establishing the foundation of AV’s involvement in the “Golden Dome for America” initiative, a defense concept modeled after Israel’s “Iron Dome” and designed to defend U.S. military and civilian sites from aerial threats.
According to the company, the deployment will bring AV’s Titan and Titan-SV radio frequency-based detection and identification platforms to Grand Forks AFB, supported by the AV_Halo Command software platform. The system fuses data from multiple sensors to provide a unified picture for counter-UAS and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) airspace awareness.
The project is aligned with Project ULTRA, a $110 million public-private initiative led by Senator John Hoeven, to make Grand Forks a national proving ground for counter-drone technologies. AV and GrandSKY first signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2025 to support the program, integrating AV_Halo Command software into GrandSKY’s BVLOS operations earlier this year.
AV says the new deployment will demonstrate an “inner layer” of its multi-tiered counter-UAS defense network and provide a model for similar systems across other high-value U.S. installations.
Tom Swoyer Jr., president of GrandSKY, said the expanded effort will help advance testing and operational integration between government, military and commercial partners:
“Deploying these technologies will give us a path to support a variety of UAS and counter-UAS tests, operations and demonstrations,” he said.
North Dakota has become a focal point for U.S. counter-drone development, with military, commercial and research partnerships converging to address emerging threats. The new system at Grand Forks AFB aims to provide a blueprint for broader homeland defense applications as the Department of Defense continues to prioritize counter-UAS modernization.
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Post Image Credit: AV
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