Army National Guard facility set for Sioux City

DES MOINES — Sioux City will see a new Army National Guard maintenance facility, Iowa National Guard Maj. Gen. Steve Osborn said Thursday.

In his Condition of the Guard address to lawmakers, Osborn highlighted the new infrastructural updates coming to the Air National Guard and Army National Guard bases in Sioux City. They include a $14 million, federally funded Army National Guard maintenance facility and a completed design for the runway replacement at 185th Air Refueling Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard.

“We continue to work with our Siouxland partners, elected leaders and National Guard Bureau towards funding this critical military construction project,” Osborn said in his address.

“These investments will modernize both Army and Air National Guard facilities and allow for continued mission execution and expanded growth into the future, a future that is both volatile and uncertain as we face an evolving set of complex threats,” he said.

The new maintenance facility has been in the works for about four years. A groundbreaking is set for late summer as the current facility is getting too small to work in, he said.

“The maintenance facility there is antiquated,” Osborn told reporters. “It's too small. It's almost dangerous to work on new Army vehicles.”

In his address, Osborn also touched on the completion of the design of a replacement runway for the 185th Air Refueling Wing, saying the replacement needs to happen quickly.

Since the 185th switched to an air refueling wing in 2003, going from F-16 fighters to KC-135 tankers, they knew the runway would need to be upgraded to accommodate the larger and much heavier planes at some point in the future, according to Osborn.

So far, the refueling wing has received $13 million for the $95 million replacement and is hoping to continue to raise more. Osborn said it has secured funding from the Federal Aviation Administration, and he believes it is getting close to getting the rest of the money.

The runway replacement is expected to take one year, but it could stretch to two, depending on the funding.

State Rep. Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant and chair of the Justice Systems Budget Subcommittee, said he is glad Sioux City military infrastructure is a priority for 2025.

“Obviously we need to give our military anything that they need to make sure that they're ready to do the task that that's before them, both instate and as they go off into to foreign lands to serve and do what they need to do to protect us,” Lohse told reporters.

Democratic Rep. J.D. Scholten of Sioux City said he is happy to hear the runway replacement is moving forward, noting that its current condition is becoming hazardous.

“What we really don't want is for it get so bad that they're looking to move the 185th because that is so important, I think, not only to Sioux City, but the state of Iowa,” Scholten said.