Airmen currently deployed to Southwest Asia from Dyess AFB, Tex., to build bombs for the B-1Bs supporting the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing have produced nearly 400 munitions over the past couple of weeks, reports Capt. Teresa Sullivan. They work 24/7 in 12- to 15-hour shifts building, testing, inspecting, storing, and maintaining all the munitions needed by these strike aircraft in the combat theater. And, they’re doing it in sweltering hear, from 125-degree days to 90-degree nights.
Today’s armament maintainers are tasked with performing flightline (O-Level) maintenance with an assortment of legacy test sets that greatly limit the ability to quickly and efficiently verify armament system readiness, diagnose failures, and ultimately return the aircraft to full mission...