Saber units get the point: 52nd Component Maintenance Squadron

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Christopher Ruano
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany --  The 52nd Fighter Wing has more than 30 units assigned, working day in and day out to fulfill the mission of defending American and allied interests while building partnership capacity.

Throughout the year, 52nd FW Public Affairs will spotlight each of the wing's units, as together they serve a critical role in fulfilling this mission. This week's spotlight is the 52nd Component Maintenance Squadron.

One team, one mission - guaranteed world-class propulsion, accessories and avionics maintenance. With a vision like this you know it has to be 52nd CMS.

"Our overall mission is to provide safe and reliable aircraft engines, components and combat avionics systems for the 52nd Fighter Wing," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Jason Moore, 52nd CMS commander from Doylestown, Pa. "Maintenance enables that unique forward-base, air-power capability we have here in support of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, U.S. Central Command and NATO objectives."

The 52nd CMS supports the wing by performing maintenance upkeep on the F-16, fulfilling the suppression of enemy air defenses mission.

The unit is comprised of the accessories flight, propulsion flight and avionics flight and leads the Air Force Repair Enhancement Program or AFREP, on base.

As part of the propulsion flight, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Willis Jensen, 52nd CMS aerospace propulsion technician from Orange County, Calif., maintains jet engines not only at Spangdahlem, but at Air Force installations throughout USAFE.

"Here at Spangdahlem and the 52nd CMS, we're actually a centralized repair facility," Jensen said. "We not only service the 52nd FW but we also service Aviano Air Base's and any GE powered F-16's in the area of responsibility."

"We have an active mission here," Jensen said. "While we are not deployed, what we do every day directly reflects our mission capabilities downrange."

"There would be a large hole in availability and capabilities of repair, because we service so many different units and also units deployed," Jensen said about the unit's importance. "If they did not have us, they would have to wait longer for motors and would not have a ready supply of spares."

Airman 1st Class Paige Hadix, 52nd CMS aircraft fuel systems technician from Saranac, Mich., applies her technical expertise on another system of the aircraft. As part of the accessories flight, Hadix and her team maintain all fuel systems on the F-16.

The fuel system is what gives the aircraft its energy in order to fly, fight and win, so constant maintenance is of utmost importance, she explained.

"We have to trouble shoot the whole fuel system to figure out what component is wrong," Hadix said. "Most of the jet is a big fuel tank, so there are all sorts of components that can go wrong and lead to other problems."

The last flight that makes up the 52nd CMS is Avionics.

"We've got the avionics flight that takes care of our ECM pods, or electronic countermeasures, and then all the avionics components or line replaceable units that the flight line returns to us for maintenance." Moore said.

The ECM pod can process and deter up to 16 threats simultaneously when activated in order to protect the pilot during a mission.

Working on aircraft parts is not the only thing the 52nd CMS is capable of, it has taken control of the bases' AFREP Program."AFREP fixes everything from circuit cards to microwaves, printers to components on an aircraft that were going to be thrown away," Moore said. "We touch quite a bit of stuff on an aircraft so a lot of responsibilities, lots of different specialties go into making this program work."

The Airmen of the 52nd CMS continue to make the mission happen.

"They truly are rock stars, we expect a lot of those guys, we continue raising the bar on expectations and responsibilities," Moore said.

"Each and every single person is critical to the mission--there are just not that many people across the Air Force capable of doing what they do and troubleshooting the things they do," Moore said. "We support a lot of sorties and a tuff operations tempo with a relatively small group. We throw a lot on their shoulders and they handle it. They always find a way to make it happen, safely, and reliably!"