GRAND FORKS, N.D. — About 800 airmen and 17 B-1B Lancer bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota are relocating temporarily to Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota to allow for runway construction at Ellsworth, the Air Force said this week.
The move, set to begin this month, will last approximately 10 months and comes after legal and environmental approvals for the construction project, which is part of preparations for the arrival of the B-21 Raider bomber in the coming years.
“The runway construction at Ellsworth is a key milestone in ensuring we’re ready to receive the B-21 Raider,” Col. Derek Oakley, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing, said in a statement. “This project illustrates the U.S. Air Force’s commitment to our nation’s newest long-range strike bomber and to the surrounding community.”
Grand Forks Air Force Base is home to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, which operates RQ-4B Global Hawk drones. The base previously supported a nuclear mission and housed Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missiles and B-52 and B-1B bombers during the mid-to-late 20th century.
Ellsworth’s B-1Bs have relocated before. Earlier this year, several bombers and 250 airmen moved to Dyess Air Force Base in Texas following runway damage from a Lancer crash. Those aircraft were later used in strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iranian-backed militant groups, the Air Force said.
The Department of Defense plans to phase out the B-1B Lancer and replace it with the B-21 Raider. Ellsworth was selected in 2021 as the first base to house the new bomber, with Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas named as additional locations.
