30-year old fuels hydrant system supports B-1 beddown, sustains Global Hawk operations Published June 18, 2025 By Airman Nailah Pacheco 319th Reconnaissance Wing GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. – For over 15 years, the 319th Logistics Readiness Squadron’s fuels hydrant system has operated at minimal activity, supporting routine fueling operations for the RQ-4 Global Hawk program and other transit aircraft. However, the system is now being used at one of its highest operational levels in decades to support the temporary relocation of 14 B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., and sustain local RQ-4 operations. Due to reduced usage in the past 15 years, the roughly 30-year-old fuels hydrant system underwent a full inspection ahead of the 28th BW’s Lancer beddown. The inspection uncovered 99 discrepancies organized into three categories: minor, moderate and severe. Contractors worked on the severe discrepancies to bring the system back to full capacity as efficiently as possible to ensure refueling support for both airframes. “Trying to get the full system back up and running so we can get out peak performance with a really old system is difficult,” said Lt. Col. Sara Pavelski, commander for the 319th LRS. “However, our team made it happen and they’re crushing it every day.” From March 20, 2025 to April 3, 2025 the fuels system pumped approximately 212,000 gallons of fuel, more fuel was pumped in a two-week span than the entire year of 2024. Last year, the fuels systems pumped approximately 215,000 gallons in total, and in the past six months the fuels system has pumped approximately 2.6 million gallons of fuel. “The system is being used a lot more which means there’s more of a possibility of things going wrong, which is both good and bad,” said Senior Airman Dannon Ramnarine, Fuels Facilities Technician assigned to the 319th LRS. “The faster we can identify if something is going wrong, the faster we can get it fixed and continue to pump fuel out efficiently to the aircraft.” The fuels hydrant system is currently sustainable with the sole usage of one pumphouse due to complications with the second pumphouse; however, the addition of the B-1 mission has driven the need to reopen pumphouse number two to optimize fuel flow for operations moving forward. The renovations will be completed by July 2025, in order to enable fuel capabilities on an additional portion of the airfield. The renovation of pumphouse 2 will also enable “hot pit” refueling operations that allow faster refueling and will directly increase sortie generation capabilities. “Once we have both pumphouses open, we will be able to use more pits on the flightline,” said Senior Airman Dannon Ramnarine, Fuels Facilities Technician assigned to the 319th LRS. “It will help us facilitate faster refuels on the flightline and avoid trucks constantly going back and forth from here to the flightline.” In addition to the upgraded fuels system, additional manpower on temporary duty from Ellsworth AFB has assisted with the local temporary surge in operations. Airmen from the 28th LRS and 28th Munitions Squadron have fully integrated themselves with the 319th LRS to work as a combined team in conducting refueling operations for both the B-1 mission and RQ-4 mission. “We made it known from the beginning that their mission is our mission, and our mission is their mission,” said Pavelski. “It’s now the ‘Grand Forks’ mission with both the B1’s and the RQ-4’s on the flightline.” As Ellsworth AFB progresses on runway construction in preparation for the acceptance of the B-21 Raider mission, the teamwork between the 319th LRS, 28th LRS and 28th MUNS displays the mission readiness, adaptability and flexibility required to surge mission operations with the resources and infrastructure available.