52nd EMS keeps weapons systems on target Published May 25, 2007 By Caitlin Schwartz 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office Intern SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, GERMANY -- Men and women of the 52nd Equipment Maintenance Squadron combat armament systems flight work hard every day making sure the weapons systems work in top condition on every plane that leaves the runway. The shop is broken down into sections for each combat armament support team. Each CAST serves one of each of the three aircraft maintenance units on the base: the 22nd AMU, 23rd AMU and 81st AMU. The 20-millimeter guns from F-16s and 30-millimeter guns from A-10s are taken to the Gun CAST to be worked on. Weapons systems are taken to the CAST that corresponds with the plane's squadron, where they are disassembled, evaluated and cleaned to keep them in peak performance. "Planes are just like commercial airliners without the weapons," Master Sgt. Steven Frisch, 52nd EMS armament flight. "But when we put a top performance weapon system on it, that makes a fighter aircraft." With more than 400 pieces of equipment moving through the shop each quarter, the 50 Airmen have their hands full. To keep track of every part that comes through the shop, how long they have been in the system and how many rounds have passed through the gun, large amounts of paperwork have to be filled out and backed up on computer. "The flight uses a simple system of tracking all parts," said Airman 1st Class Melissa Cunningham, 52nd EMS armament flight. "All parts when removed from their original unit are placed in different parts bins labeled for each gun system. This ensures parts aren't mixed between guns since there are many time change items." The weapons system is a vital part of every aircraft and every Airman has an important job to do. "We deal with anything that has bombs, missiles, bullets or rockets in it," Sergeant Frisch said. "So when all of it's put back together and the weapon system does its job, we know we've done our job." The Airmen perform inspections on a rotating basis, taking the 3,000 moving parts out, making the system almost unrecognizable. At 24 months or 25,000 rounds, the A-10 systems come in, and every 18 months the F-16 systems come in to have parts swapped out. Some guns can have 80 percent of its parts replaced each time. Each system is individually inspected, evaluated and worked on by a team of Airmen dedicated to making sure everything works like it is supposed to. They know when it comes to weapons, they are first in line to make sure they are there if and when the pilot needs them.