Refueling fighters was outside the soldiers’ usual duties. Before deploying, they trained at McChord Airfield at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state to learn how to refuel fixed-wing aircraft under Air Force safety and operating procedures.
“Refueling fighter jets isn’t something they get to do every day, but they took the training and experience they already had and applied it to a completely different environment,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Johnny Frambo, the command’s senior petroleum systems technician. “Every time an F-22 returns to the flight line, our team is ready to get that aircraft back in the air.”
On the flight line in Japan, soldiers worked with Air Force maintainers to position fuel vehicles near the jets and coordinate each transfer. They checked the fuel before distributing it each day and monitored pressure differences, flow rates and static electricity as they pumped it, sometimes in limited visibility.
Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Momsen, production superintendent with the 525th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit, said the soldiers and maintainers quickly learned to work together. “Bringing the 593rd fuelers and our maintainers together has been seamless,” he said.
Keen Sword 27 brought U.S. and Japanese forces together to coordinate flight operations, logistics and training at several locations in Japan. The exercise also draws allied and partner nations from across the Pacific and is designed to improve U.S. and Japanese readiness and their ability to operate together.
