Following the recent passage of the fiscal year 2024 Defense Appropriations Bill, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) began a statewide tour of North Dakota, to highlight all the ways the bill benefits the state’s involvement with the U.S military.
Overall, the bill provided a 3 percent boost to defense spending and a 5.2 percent raise for military service members. For North Dakota, the bill brings specific impacts including nuclear allocations, space missions, military technology R&D and an expansion of the National Guard.
“We kicked off our military tour in Minot today to outline this important funding because our nuclear triad is the bedrock of our national defense,” Hoeven said from Minot, N.D., home to the Minot Air Force Base. “But our nuclear forces were developed during the Cold War and need to be overhauled to deter any adversary from challenging the United States. This legislation makes the investments we need to strengthen deterrence.”
In practical terms, what that means is $1 billion in funding to continue upgrades of the B-52 bomber and new weapons for it, $4.5 billion for development and procurement of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – plus $1 billion for its warhead – and new Grey Wolf helicopters for base security. In this way, the federal government will push for modernization of the Minot Air Force Base at large, improving its only dual-nuclear base.
The bill also offered full funding for the Space Development Agency and Test Resource Management Center at Grand Forks, North Dakota, and allotted $15 million for a new National Guard training center also potentially in Grand Forks. On top of this, it provided more than $100 million for new military technologies being developed in the state.