Today, Sen. John Hoeven announced Project Atlas at the 20th Annual UAS Summit, outlining a new partnership to integrate unmanned aircraft and unmanned ground vehicles into a coordinated system that military personnel could use for operational support, maintenance and security.
The effort brings together the University of North Dakota, NASA, the Department of War and the North Dakota National Guard. Hoeven said he had secured $2 million through the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriation to launch the project, with an initial evaluation of unmanned ground vehicles scheduled for the following week at Camp Grafton.
“Today I’m announcing Project Atlas,” Hoeven told summit attendees, presenting the initiative as another step in North Dakota’s work to connect autonomy research, military requirements and real-world operations. “I think that the secret, the strength, the greatness of our ecosystem here is that we have more partnerships than anyone,” he said.
Connecting Aircraft and Ground Vehicles
Project Atlas will focus on integrating unmanned systems across two operating environments: the air and the ground. Hoeven described a system that would allow an individual service member to access coordinated support from both types of vehicles rather than use them as separate capabilities. “Project Atlas is an effort to integrate unmanned aerial systems and unmanned ground vehicle systems,” he said.
He outlined applications spanning combat operations, military bases, depots and maintenance activities. The objective, he explained, involves more than coordinating vehicle movements. The partners want to develop a system that responds to what military personnel need to accomplish, combining aerial and ground capabilities to support the task.
Hoeven also identified single-operator use as a development goal. After the partners select ground vehicles for the effort, NASA and UND will experiment with and develop the systems that connect those vehicles with unmanned aircraft.
That sequence places vehicle evaluation ahead of integration work. Hoeven did not identify a selected vehicle or manufacturer in the announcement, describing the next step as determining which vehicle or vehicles would participate.
Groundbreaker Starts the Evaluation
The Department of War will host an event called “Groundbreaker” at Camp Grafton to begin assessing potential ground platforms, Hoeven said. Companies interested in participating had put forward unmanned ground vehicles for consideration.
The department and the North Dakota National Guard will evaluate those vehicles before NASA and UND begin the air-ground integration work.
“First, we need funding at $2 million,” Hoeven said. “Well, the good news is already secured that last year in 2026 defense appropriation.” He emphasized the need to move quickly from funding to execution. “We want to get this effort underway,” he said.
Hoeven cast the four organizations as a team that combines research capabilities, military participation and a location for evaluating ground systems. “Now is that the dream team?” he asked the audience. “Come on. Is that the dream team or not?”
Partnerships Built for Operational Testing
Hoeven connected the announcement to relationships that North Dakota has developed over two decades. He said the summit itself has helped initiate or incubate partnerships by bringing together people working across unmanned aviation. “And each time we do, we get stronger and our reach expands,” he said.
For Atlas, Hoeven pointed specifically to the state’s longstanding work with NASA on unmanned traffic management and its relationships with the Federal Aviation Administration. He argued that those relationships, combined with established testing capabilities, help North Dakota move projects beyond isolated demonstrations. “It’s these 20 years where we’ve built up this credibility with the FAA,” he said, explaining that federal officials know the people and organizations conducting the work.
Hoeven cited the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, GrandSKY and the North Dakota National Guard among the organizations that underpin that capability. Camp Grafton, he added, provides land where the partners can operate and assess unmanned ground vehicles.
He also referenced Project ULTRA as an existing example of unmanned aircraft operations connecting military locations. In his account, those activities help establish the operating environment within which the state can pursue additional autonomy capabilities.
Hoeven drew a distinction between testing exclusively in restricted areas and operating in the national airspace system, where unmanned aircraft must function alongside other aviation activity. “It’s the difference between practicing for the football game and playing a game,” he said. “We’re out there in the NAS doing it.”
Military Needs Drive the Mission
Hoeven used Minot Air Force Base to illustrate the potential importance of integrated air and ground systems. He described the demands associated with supporting a large military installation and geographically dispersed missile facilities, including security, maintenance and protection against drone threats.
Rather than announce an Atlas deployment at the base, Hoeven presented those requirements as examples of the problems the project could help address. His remarks connected the integration effort to the practical challenge of supporting personnel and infrastructure across a substantial operating area.
He also emphasized urgency, arguing that military organizations need capabilities that can keep pace with rapidly changing technology. “And it’s not a system that we need tomorrow or a year from now,” he said. “It’s a system we need today, today.”
The announcement laid out an initial development path: evaluate ground vehicles at Camp Grafton, determine the participating platforms, then have NASA and UND develop their connections with unmanned aircraft.
Hoeven did not provide a completion date or announce an operationally ready system. Instead, he positioned Project Atlas as the next partnership in an ongoing effort to turn North Dakota’s autonomy ecosystem into capabilities that military personnel can use. “This project matters,” he said.