(Valley News Live) — Sen. John Hoeven announced Project ATLAS on Tuesday, an unmanned research initiative between the University of North Dakota (UND), NASA, the U.S. Department of War (DoW) and the North Dakota National Guard (NDNG).
Project ATLAS is a new DoW initiative to integrate the capabilities of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and incorporate them into daily training, base support and combat operations. UND will work with NASA to conduct experiments to achieve that goal, with support from the North Dakota National Guard, which will provide access to its range at Camp Grafton.
As a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Hoeven secured nearly $2 million in fiscal year 2026 to launch Project ATLAS. Of that, $1 million will support UND and NASA’s operations, while $750,000 will go to the Guard to support activities at Camp Grafton. Hoeven said he is continuing to work to secure additional funding for the initiative in fiscal year 2027.
How the project will develop
Project ATLAS’s first task is to identify a ground vehicle to use in future experiments. Next week, the DoW will host a joint unmanned ground vehicle demonstration event, known as Groundbreaker, at Camp Grafton, where the capabilities of various vehicles will be evaluated for inclusion in the initiative.
Once a vehicle is selected, NASA and UND will develop experiments linking the UGV and UAS with a focus on improving local base security and logistics. Over time, Project ATLAS will take on increasingly complex tasks, building toward the capability for a single operator to use UAS and UGV systems simultaneously, with the aircraft and ground vehicles collaborating autonomously to accomplish tasks such as assisting with maintenance operations, equipment or supply deliveries, and responding to security threats.
“Project ATLAS, a new partnership between UND, NASA, the Department of War and the North Dakota National Guard, is the result of all the unmanned capabilities we have developed and serves as a logical next step in the growth of our UAS ecosystem,” Hoeven said. “By combining the capabilities of unmanned aircraft with unmanned ground vehicles, we can meet the logistical and security needs of our military and accelerate our leadership in autonomy, with missions from the ground all the way up into space.”
Announcement made at UAS Summit
Hoeven made the announcement during remarks at the UAS Summit in Grand Forks, where he was joined by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Gen. Mike Guetlein, director of Golden Dome for America. Hoeven invited Isaacman and Guetlein to the state as part of his efforts to strengthen North Dakota’s role in drone and counter-drone technology and space operations.
Hoeven pointed to 20 years of work to establish North Dakota as a leader in unmanned technology, dating back to 2006, when he worked to fund and establish UND’s Center of Excellence for UAS Research, Education and Training as governor. Since then, Hoeven has worked with federal, state, university, military and commercial partners to advance the sector in North Dakota, including the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, the Grand Forks Air Force Base, GrandSKY, UND, the Department of War, the Space Development Agency, the Test Resource Management Center and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Earlier this year, Hoeven secured access to the FAA’s unfiltered radar data feed for the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, making it the only non-federal entity with such access. Hoeven first partnered the state’s UAS ecosystem with NASA in 2016, when he secured North Dakota’s role in the agency’s unmanned traffic management research program.
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