By: Maj. Matthew T. Mutti
SAFE SKIES 2011 Public Affairs Officer
MIRGOROD AIR BASE, Ukraine – Flying and maintaining multi-million dollar aircraft is never easy, but the challenge is compounded when you relocate seven fighter jets, maintenance and support operation teams to a country that has never hosted U.S. Air National Guard fighters before.
Air National Guard F-16C/D fighters from Alabama and Iowa along with 130 personnel from California, Alabama, Washington, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, relocated to Mirgorod Air Base, Ukraine, to support Safe Skies 2011, a multinational event, where the Air National Guard will fly with the Ukrainian and Polish air forces to aide them in providing better airspace defense for the upcoming 2012 Euro Cup.
The logistics and planning that goes into a 15-day event of this magnitude is extensive. The preparation for this event began nearly two years ago; with a planning team from California working through every contingency scenario to ensure they could provide air superiority and air sovereignty-operations training to our allied partners.
The overall goal of this event is to better prepare the Ukrainian and Polish air forces for a large-scale international sporting event like the Euro Cup.
Prior to the fighter aircraft arriving, an advanced team of 30 members landed and delivered many of the required supplies. A C-17 from the 172nd Air Wing, Mississippi Air National Guard was used to transport many of the larger pieces of equipment like: generators, light-alls and a spare engine. The foot-print for a flying event this large is rather extensive. It took seven members from the logistic team to unload the aircraft and work the cargo through customs.
A lot of advance preparation had to be completed before the F-16s could land in Mirgorod. The mobile-barrier team from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, had to set up a mobile arresting system prior to their arrival.
The arresting system or "barrier" is a key piece of safety equipment used by the F-16 aircraft. In the event of an in-flight emergency, a pilot could engage the barrier with the aircraft’s tail-hook and stop the aircraft in a very short distance. After the barrier system was operational, U.S. fighter aircraft could arrive and begin Safe Skies.
As flying operations commenced, so did the aircraft maintenance operations. Aerospace ground equipment, avionics, fuels, hydraulic, propulsion, weapons - the list of required aircraft maintenance support reads like the alphabet from A-Z; 26 independent maintenance organizations from different states/units working together as a synergistic team. This team has also harnessed the collective strength of the Ukrainian maintainers to work beyond language and supply limitations, to achieve a very aggressive flying schedule.
“The ability to work with our Ukrainian friends has allowed us to work beyond any potential road-blocks,” said Col. Scott Patten, 187th Fighter Wing commander, and detachment commander for Safe Skies 2011. “When you execute an operation of this magnitude, you will always need to adjust your plan using the available resource … our resilient team and our strong relationship with the Ukrainian leadership has helped us to continue despite potential set-backs.”
The maintenance and logistic teams have worked extremely hard to ensure this event has been as successful as it has; it takes a great deal of planning and determination when you are in uncharted waters, added Patten. “This is the first state partnership event of this size and the first time an Air National Guard unit has operated out of Ukraine.”
Airman 1st Class Tyler Boswell, a crew chief from the Alabama Air National Guard has been in the unit for two years and is very impressed with how quickly the unit has gelled. “If you look across the wing, you’d never know we were all from different units, this is what makes the guard so special; we all work so well together.”
Collaboration and communication are the foundation of this exercise said Master Sgt. Charles Mathews, an Alabama Air National Guard crew chief. “We are helping the Ukrainians better protect their airspace for the Euro Cup, and this type of event would only be possible through working together. It is a great feeling, knowing that we helped launch the jets that support this initiative.”
The maintenance team coordinates their activities through a Ukrainian translator, Lt. Col. Andrii Feklistov. He has really enjoyed this partnership and looks forward to the next visit by the Air Guard airmen. “I feel that we have both learned a lot,” said Feklistov.
When speaking of his experience while participating in Safe Skies Feklistov sums up his personal experience by saying, “We are building a 'ship' -partner-ship, friend-ship through fellow-ship.”
| Date Taken: |
07.26.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
07.26.2011 07:02 |
| Story ID: |
74328 |
| Location: |
MIRGOROD AIR BASE, UA |
| Web Views: |
1,113 |
| Downloads: |
1 |
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