Thanks to a contract awarded in late December 2023, work is going on now to redo taxiways and the refueling apron at Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport on South Post at Fort McCoy.

The multimillion-dollar project was given a notice to proceed to the contractor in February, said Project Engineer Kyle Burwitz with the Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District.

“The contract is titled, ‘Repair Airport Taxiways A & C and Refueling Apron at the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport,’” Burwitz said. “The scope of work is to complete a repair and re-align of Taxiway Alpha and Taxiway Charlie on the Fort McCoy airfield side. Demolish the remaining nearby sections of Taxiway Alpha, and Delta 1. And, install taxiway lighting and signage where appropriate along the new taxiways.”

Burwitz said the scope of work also states to “complete a repair of the existing refueling apron to increase the capabilities of the refueling area. Construct three taxiways between the new Alpha Taxiway and the three refuel areas, to include lanes, equipment pads, and relocated fuel dispensers.”

The contract for the project is a 365-day contract, so the construction completion date is currently set for Feb. 13, 2025, Burwitz said. Construction first began May 14.

In a mid-July update about the project, Burwitz said the project was approximately 12 percent complete.

At that time he said portions of phase one work remained to be completed. Some aggregate placement and surface preparation remained incomplete but would be completed later.

He also said phase two of the project has now been ongoing with subgrade preparation (compaction and testing) and installation of drain tile pipe and inspection pits.

Burwitz wrote that finished grade is also being established and prepped for hydroseeding, placement of aggregate layers is going on, and work for underground electrical and duct bank placement for airfield lighting are being completed.

Similar work was done at the airport nine years ago in 2015 when three contracts were completed to repair a runway, repave a taxiway, and replace hangar doors.

The airport has been a busy place since 2015 as well, hosting operations for dozens of exercises and training operations for the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Army, Army Aviation, Army National Guard, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army Reserve.

Aircraft flown in and out of the airport in recent years have included the C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, CH-47 Chinook helicopter, V-22 Osprey aircraft, and others.

In 2023, multiple units with Wisconsin’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard combined to hold a practice session of their airshow event at the airport. The event, which was a practice for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, Wis., included Soldiers and Airmen and included field artillery, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, an F-35A Lightning II, and a KC-135R Stratotanker.

Lt. Col. Dan Allen, commander of the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment, said the “dress rehearsal” at the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport was a complex and coordinated event.

“It began with the F-35 … coming across the airfield conducting what we call suppression of enemy air defenses,” Allen said in a video by Greg Mason with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office. “That was followed by insertion, or air assault, of two Black Hawks from the 147th with 120th Field Artillery to fire off their 105 Howitzers followed by four aircraft (with Soldiers) who conducted actions on an objective.

“After that, the 147th had two medevac assets come in, and (they) conducted a live-hoist simulating an injured casualty. After that, there was an air refueling pass with the … KC-135 and the F-35.”

In July 2019, special operations Airmen with the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron of the Kentucky Air National Guard at Louisville conducted an airborne-insertion jump at Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport during the Patriot North 2019 exercise.

Fort McCoy training officials at the time said the action confirmed a training capability long planned for at the installation. Three Airmen completed the jump in a scenario aimed at airport seizure that would lead to the establishment of an air hub to receive supplies by military airlift aircraft, such as the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III.

One Fort McCoy official even stated, “For Fort McCoy, the greatest outcome of this training was it was the first time in Fort McCoy history that anyone remembers a unit conducting airport seizure operations at our very own Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport.”

Once the current construction is complete, Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security officials said the airport will be ready for even more training operations in the future.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”