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Building Fight Tonight Readiness: Armament flight keeps weapons systems working

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Owsianka
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  This is the second in a series of articles relating to an overview of the 51st Fighter Wing priorities at Osan Air Base. The major role Team Osan plays in the Republic of Korea and the extent of its mission will be showcased this week in the way Team Osan's practices "Building Fight Tonight Readiness." Beginning on March 9, 2014, we will provide an in-depth look at how the base "Strengthens the team and the base." Concluding this series will be a wrap-up article with a video reiterating the importance of the wing's priorities.

Readiness is a stable function for the mustangs at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. Since the end of the Korean War, and the subsequent signing of the armistice in 1953, United States forces have been tasked with maintaining the stability allotted in that treaty. The peace and prosperity of South Korea has been aided by units like the 51st Fighter Wing, which aims to continue this era of stability through the practice of building fight tonight readiness. One such way readiness is achieved is by the continuous upkeep of the weapons systems on the base's A-10 and F-16 aircraft.

Whether it's performing scheduled or unscheduled maintenance tasks, the 51st Munitions Squadron armament flight technicians keep the A-10 Thunderbolt II and F-16 Fighting Falcon weapons systems in proper working order. This flight keeps the 25th and 36th Fighter Squadrons ready to be employed at a moment's notice.

The primary goal of the armament flight is to provide weapons systems reliability to the A-10 and F-16 aircraft.

"The biggest thing that we do is provide the pilots with safe, reliable gun systems that they sit on top of," said Tech. Sgt. Joseph Davis, 51st MUNS A-10 armament cast chief. "We also ensure that load crews on the flight line know that the equipment we have worked on is serviceable, and when they load a bomb, it is going to release on time."

To ensure that the equipment is mission ready, the armament flight regularly schedules inspections and maintenance work.

"We perform scheduled maintenance to make sure each part we return to the flight line is serviceable," Davis said. "When we receive a piece of equipment, we disassemble it, inspect it and provide any necessary maintenance and repair work."

The armament flight is split into two departments: the A-10 section and F-16 section.

A-10s are inspected on their 30-mm gun, feed and handling system, ammunition loading adaptor and triple ejector rack.

F-16s are inspected for their 20-mm gun, air-to-air missiles, conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods.

"We take the equipment apart and make sure everything is going to function properly," said Staff Sgt. Brit Meibos, 51st MUNS F-16 armament floor chief. "We do functional checks to make sure that each piece of equipment is ready to go."

To ensure the flight plays an effective role in realistic and robust readiness, the armament flight makes sure that the flight line crews can receive the equipment at a moment's notice.

"It's important for us to successfully complete our job because that way we put reliable weapons systems on the aircraft," Meibos said. "It's very important to make sure that our weapons systems are reliable so the pilots will receive equipment that functions to successfully train as they fly their sorties."