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Airmen ensure bombs are on target

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Richard Williams
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  One of the primary missions of U.S. Air Forces Central is to provide close air support to troops on the ground. Close air support keeps ground forces safe by providing armed over watch, or if the situation arises placing bombs on target.

The Airmen of the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron ammo flight ensure that if there is a need to release munitions from an aircraft, they are ready to go, according to Senior Airman Justin Carroll, 455th EMXS, ammo flight.

"Our primary mission here is to support the flightline," said Airman Carroll, deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy. He said the ammo flight supplies ammunitions for 455th Air Expeditionary Wing assets and assist the with some U.S. Army assets as well.

Master Sgt. Matt Lingelbach, 455th EMXS ammo flight conventional maintenance element chief, said the ammo flight builds and resupplies munitions for wing assets and supplies chaff flares used as counter measures on the aircraft.

"The bombs we currently build are smart bombs," said Sergeant Lingelbach, deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. As a young Airman, he saw a mixture of smart and dumb bombs being used. Now, as technology has improved, the ability to place bombs on target has also improved.

"I have seen footage from the test range," he said. "Our newest global positioning system bombs can be guided through the center of a window, and our television guided bomb can be put right on the bad guy's lap."

Sergeant Lingelbach, a Rockford, Ill., native said the extreme accuracy of the munitions they build is important to the mission here because it effectively eliminates targets while greatly reducing civilian casualties and destroying any infrastructure in the surrounding area.

Airman Carroll, a Las Vegas, Nev., native sees accuracy in bomb making as an important part of the mission and said, "We have to do what we do right and get the munitions where they need to be so our aircraft can support the troops on the ground."

Primarily the 455th EMXS ammo flight build joint direct attack munitions and guided bomb units, said Airman Carroll. He also pointed out they also maintain 20mm shells and the 5.56 and 7.62mm rounds carried by personnel stationed here.

"The job our Airmen do is phenomenal," said Sergeant Lingelbach. "This is like the show for us I guess, we train with inert stuff every day but you get here and you are working with live bombs and they don't come back."

Sergeant Lingelbach said it makes him feel good to know the Airmen are getting the training they need at home station and when they get here they can take care of the mission the way it needs to be taken care of.

Airman Carroll said the most important bomb is the one that doesn't have to be dropped but, when push comes to shove, he and the rest of the team know when they put out a product, the one that works effectively on the battlefield can ultimately save coalition lives.

"Without us being successful here, the operators in the air can't be successful," said Sergeant Lingelbach. "If we don't build a quality product then they can't put bombs on target."