Thunderbolt assists with new building for Iraqi air force

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LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Members of the Coalition Air Force Training Team handed over three new buildings to the Iraqi air force May 13 in a traditional dedication ceremony. Among the new facilities were a a munitions storage area, an avionics testing facility, and a communications building. According to Lt. Col. Angel Olivares, CAFTT base support unit director, the new facilities greatly enhance the capabilities of the Iraqi air force. 

"The projects are designed to provide the Iraqi air force at Taji with the basic infrastructure to allow it to complete its flying and training missions," the colonel said. 

The Iraqis take over a new munitions maintenance and storage area, modeled after the munitions storage facilities used by the U.S. Air Force. The maintenance facility consists of three bays designed to conduct maintenance on rockets, chaff and flares, and ammunition, and also has office space for the technicians. 

"The significance of this munitions area is that it has increased the capabilities of the Iraqi air force by 400 percent," said Tech. Sgt. Otis Reed, deployed from the 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Conventional Maintenance assistant NCO-in-charge and deployed as munitions advisor to the Iraqi air force. "This building will now be used for weapons checkout and munitions inspections as well as a munitions building." 

The avionics testing facility is the second building dedicated to the Iraqis and is unique because the equipment inside is from Russia and uses more than six electrical power supply variations. The facility is designed to allow the phase testing of all MI-17 and UH-1 electronic components. 

"There are only two facilities of this type in the world - one in Russia and now one in Taji, Iraq," said Master Sgt. Bonnie Trajanowski, CAFTT air advisor. "It gives the Iraqi air force the capability to test and make adjustments to all the avionics equipment, to include all instruments, auto pilot and radios on the Mi-17." 

Sergeant Trajanowski, a native of New Britain, Conn., who is deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., said the biggest challenge for her team has been receiving all of the Russian equipment, translating the operating procedures into English so coalition advisors can understand, and then retranslating into Arabic for the Iraqi air force. She said it was a necessary step to ensure the success of the Iraqi aerial mission. 

"With the shortage of parts and aircraft, we have to ensure that these helicopters are performing at the optimal level and with this new facility we can now make sure that happens," she said. 

The third and final facility is the communications building, which is also a one-of-a-kind for the Iraqi air force. 

"It is designed to house all the communication needs for the entire base, to include phone, Internet and radio and will be used to service all repairs on those capabilities," Colonel Olivares said, who is deployed from HQ NATO SHAPE, Belgium, and is a native of El Paso, Texas. 

Courtesy of 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs and 56th FW PA