CAPEX tests Kunsan's bomb-building abilities

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Sonny Cohrs
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  The Combat Ammunition Production Exercise is underway here June 6 to 10, testing the wing's capabilities to build munitions to support combat sorties if, or when, the Wolf Pack is called to "Take the Fight North."

Inspectors from across the combat Air Force, including instructors from the Air Force Combat Ammunition Center at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., evaluated approximately 200 Airmen on the process and procedures for building munitions to support the wing's operational plan. Munitions specialists from across Pacific Air Forces are here to participate in the exercise along with the Wolf Pack.

"Basically, we're executing our OPLAN," said Senior Master Sgt. Victoria Lemke, 8th Maintenance Squadron munitions materiel section chief. "PACAF has created this exercise so we can show our capability to do what we do every day - we build bombs to take the fight north."

While the exercise hosted at Kunsan this week focuses solely on producing combat loads for the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-15E Strike Eagle, both of which are currently on station at Kunsan, a real-world situation may call for the armament of a multitude of aircraft.

"Any other air frames that might happen to come," Sergeant Lemke added. "The Army would be spun up too, so we would be supporting helicopters and the Patriots."

The process, and evaluation, begins once the munitions control element gets the flying schedule and the aircraft tasking order. This order identifies the type and amount of each ordnance needed to complete the mission. Airmen check the standard configuration for the weapons and ensure everything is on hand to fill the order, working around the clock to ensure bombs are ready when aircraft need to take off.

"Once we've made that determination of how many of each component we need, they load all the components up and deliver them to the bomb pads," Sergeant Lemke said. Once the teams are in full production mode, the weapons builders should be ahead of the flying schedule.
"That's your ultimate goal," Sergeant Lemke added, "so you're not holding up aircraft."

Live ordnance isn't physically loaded onto awaiting aircraft during the CAPEX, but the capability to build enough bombs on time is evaluated, along with the wing's ability to accurately accept the munitions and maintain accountability of the ordnance. Once the bombs are built, transported and accepted they are then taken apart and the components are returned to the storage area.

Airman 1st Class Bryan Permann, 8th MXS munitions storage crew chief, works with a small team to return bomb components to storage after the process has been evaluated. Normally, this disassembly process would be moot for a live-fire mission, as the pilot takes care of bomb "disposal" over the target.

"As they say, we would just be another airliner if we didn't drop munitions," Airman Permann joked. "But as a whole I think it's very important. You can see the amount of munitions and sorties that are generated, and all of the different assortments of warheads, bombs and munitions we can actually drop on the enemy."

All the while, the 8th MXS still supports the 8th Fighter Wing's flying schedule, as well as flying schedule of the current theater support package - RAF Lakenheath. But the on-going CAPEX is important, according to Sergeant Lemke, because it not only tests the wing's capability but also provides an excellent training environment.

"We don't get many opportunities to build live munitions [because] we just don't have the capability at a lot of Air Force bases to drop live munitions," Sergeant Lemke said. "This is an outstanding training opportunity for us. This is the perfect time to validate munitions tactics, techniques and procedures as well as to ensure we have the capability to do what U.S. Forces Korea needs us to do in the event we need to take the fight north."