Munitions Flight is the bomb

  • Published
  • By Airman Basic Nathan H. Barbour
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Tucked away at D-M AFB, the 355th Equipment Maintenance Squadron munitions flight builds bombs.

The munitions flight, also known as AMMO, supports the D-M AFB mission by assembling whatever types of munitions are needed.

"The main focus for us is to support the flight line," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Timothy Starling, 355th EMS munitions flight production supervisor. "If they request it and we have the components to do the job, we are going to get it done and get it out to the flightline so the pilots can fly and drop the bombs that they want to drop."

After the components are delivered, AMMO crew members must do a preassembly inspection on every single component.  The bombs then get loaded onto a munitions assembly conveyer where it is assembled according to their technical order.

"There are actually hundreds of different variations of bombs, but the two bomb bodies that we use are the Mark 82 which weighs 500 pounds and the Mark 84 weighing in at 2,000 pounds." Starling said.  "What creates the different variations are the components we use to assemble them."

The munitions flight supports three A-10C Thunderbolt II units, two C-130 units and one HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter unit here. 

"Our smallest rocket build that we do is about 1,200 rockets," Starling said. "We can get that done with breakout, building and cleaning up in about two days."