MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- Maintainers assigned to 22nd Maintenance Group enabled the effective use of tankers during Red Flag-Alaska 17-2, June 8 – 23, at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
The exercise strengthens the coalition between Republic of Korea Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the U.S.’s military by integrating and executing missions together.
Being away from McConnell brings its own challenges in keeping the planes in the air to capitalize on the capabilities of the KC-135 Stratotanker. The aircrews fly two missions a day, requiring quick turn-arounds after each flight to get the aircraft prepared for the next mission.
"We've had to work as quickly as possible," said Master Sgt. Aaron Degnan, 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production superintendent. "Everyone has done a really great job, I am very impressed. We've turned a couple of these planes from stop to roll-out quicker than I thought was possible."
The crew has displayed professionalism equating in safe aircraft for tanker aircrews to sustain rapid mobility, which enables fighters to train on dogfighting and bomb runs.
"Our crew has shown a great balance of knowledge, mechanical skill and experience," said Tech. Sgt. Charles Marting, 22nd AMXS crew chief, in regards of how the maintainers keep the mission pushing forward.
McConnell sent 31 Airmen from various maintenance shops to the exercise and added two more flying crew chiefs to the crew when Kadena Air Base, Japan, added a KC-135 to the fight.
"We have less assets and airplanes to make the mission happen," said Degnan. "At home we have an entire fleet to make it happen, here we only have four KC-135s."
Parts availability has been the largest concern for the maintainers. Fortunately, the base has an Air National Guard unit that has supplied many parts as well as a KC-135 assigned to Pacific Air Forces.
"If it wasn’t for the guard unit we would have been hosed multiple times," said Degnan. "We brought our own parts supply kits, but we can never plan for everything to break and bring every part with us."
The exercise has demanded aircraft to operate reliably at an increased rate flying more than three times as often as usual, yet the maintainers get them ready for each mission to support the training that could prove essential to fighters operating in compromised airspace.