HANCOCK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. – The 174th Maintenance Group’s Forward Operating Location (FOL) enables realistic wartime training for pilots and maintenance and support personnel at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield on Fort Drum.
Airmen assigned to the FOL’s load crew are certified on the F-16, A-10, F-15, and soon, the F-35 to perform tasks such as aircraft maintenance, cold and hot pit refueling, and live weapons loading. The FOL has an annual production of 400 sorties and 300 combined live/inert weapons employed.
For 36 years, the FOL has provided Air National Guard units across the country with rapid aircraft turnaround times and the ability to load live munitions on several aircraft. The FOL’s support eliminates extended flight times to home station for rearming and refueling.
Additionally, over the past 10 years, the FOL has allocated, stored, built, loaded and expended 1,902 live munitions. During that period, all other Air National Guard units combined expended 3,043.
The FOL was the first Air National Guard unit to turn and produce the airframes of the A-10, F-16, and F-15, including full live Mk-82 and HE rockets load-out during one single day.
Anyone involved with loading weapons must be experienced, able to adapt to the mission and conditions at hand, and prepared for a variety of tasks for any given calendar time frame.
The amount of time spent on training is reflected by the ability to change tasks and airframes as needed without sacrificing a focus on safety and productivity. For the FOL, the two members of the load crew have a combined 36 years of loading experience and 10 years as part of the crew.