Andersen AFB, Guam—The Air Force is instituting large-scale changes to the way it repairs runways after an attack, officials told Air Force Magazine during a recent visit here. “We are currently still teaching legacy airfield damage repair field methodology … based on Cold War technology and … threats … but there are some new and improved threats from adversaries in the region that have forced us to come up with a new methodology for recovering airfields,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Mares, commander of the 554th RED HORSE Squadron Det. 1 and head of Silver Flag training here. “We have always trained to the threat of fixing three 50-foot craters in four hours. Now, the new threat is going to be potentially 20 to 100 six-foot craters, so there are going to be many more pieces of damage, but of a smaller nature,” he explained. The actual method for filling the holes also is changing. Instead of using compacted dirt and then topping it with a folded fiberglass mat, the Air Force is moving to a process called “fillable flow,” which is “more of a very thick slurry” used to fill the crater, said Lt. Col. Andrew DeRosa, 554th RHS commander. “It’s quicker because you pretty much just pump it into a hole, skim it off, and let it set,” he said.
The U.S. military is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East to step up its war with Iran, adding to what is already the largest buildup of airpower in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For now, the operation shows little sign of coming to a quick…