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Avionics supports aircraft uprange

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jasmine Reif
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
The F-15Es left in January, but maintenance personnel here continue to provide support to the fighter aircraft still located at forward operating bases. 

At the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron Avionics Flight, a group of 19 Airmen from Mountain Home AFB, Id., work together to ensure F-15E Eagles at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, have functioning radar, control of flight surfaces, and the ability to communicate with other aircraft or personnel on the ground. 

The equipment used to test the parts requires a large temperature controlled building and Bagram AB could not provide it, so all parts are shipped from there to the 379th AEW and back uprange when repaired. 

Half of the parts repaired at the shop can only be shipped on Air force aircraft due to security classifications. Those parts are flown in on C-17s and C-130s with the rest brought in by commercial cargo aircraft. 

"We are the first AEF rotation to try it, so we had to work out a few bugs in the transportation of the parts," said Master Sgt. Gardiner, 379th EMXS Avionics Flight chief. 

"We work on the flight control displays in the cockpit, the best known being the Heads Up Display, the computers that control flight surfaces, displays and weapons release, target radar and the electronic countermeasures for the F-15E." 

The avionics shop is broken down into three sections, display and navigation, radar and electronic countermeasures. 

"Everyone here is proficient in every area of avionics," said Senior Airman Adam Pinkney, 379th EMXS Avionics Flight Radar team leader. "However, we do have three main areas, which Airmen are split up into and focus on during their deployment. After Airmen receive their 5-level, they pick one of the areas and master it, but are still required to maintain proficiency so when deployed they can work all sections." 

The workload is sporadic, sometimes the shop will go a week and see only 10-15 F-
15E Line Replaceable Units and the next week it might be close to 40. 

"When the work load is high, the Airmen do a great job of just concentrating and keeping their cool," Airman Pinkney said. "We brought a very close crew and they all help each other with day to day stresses of the job." 

The amount of time it takes to fix each part varies. Some LRUs take 10-15 minutes if the computer doesn't find anything wrong with it while others may take hours, depending on how complicated the testing is. 

"The Electronic Systems Test Set tests LRUs for up to six hours," Sergeant Gardiner said. "The broken components are then removed and replaced and retested for another six hours. It must have a completely clean test before we can release it back to Bagram."
The avionics shop here has six NCOs in comparison to the 21 at home station, with the same number of additional duties, so the Airmen pick up responsibilities that would normally be taken care of by an NCO. Sergeant Gardiner said he feels it demonstrates the quality and capability of the Airmen when challenged. 

"This crew has shown dedication I have not seen in any of my previous rotations," said Master Sgt. Richard Sato, 379th EMXS F-15 Avionics section chief. "Whether it be working 14-15 hour days or coming in on their off days in support of their fellow Airmen, shows the true meaning of teamwork. Teamwork is the foundation that leads to success of our mission and ultimately the mission of the Air Force."