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  • Gunfighter Maintenance Revives Fighter Jet

    In a remarkable display of dedication and teamwork, the recovery and rebuild of aircraft 323, a F-15E Strike Eagle, has been a significant victory for the maintainers at Mountain Home Air Force Base. After being grounded for more than four years, the aircraft has now returned to operational status.

  • 726 ACS proves new deployment strategy

    The 726th Air Control Squadron (ACS) “Hardrock” is ready to roll out a new deployment strategy after a two-week long agile combat employment exercise, August 19 - 30, 2024.

  • AF Year in Photos

    This year's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This annual feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.

  • Bold Tigers return home

    Airmen from the 391st Fighter Squadron and Fighter Generation Squadron, also known as the “Bold Tigers”, returned from deployment to the Indo-Pacific theater Nov. 2023.

  • Generate Airpower, Check: Kadena ACEs no-notice exercise

    Airmen from the 18th Wing partnered with deployed Airmen from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, and Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, to launch multiple F-15C/D Eagles, F-15E Strike Eagles and F-35A Lightning IIs during a a no-notice agile combat

  • Tiger wins Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award

    Staff Sgt. Samantha Furtaw, 391st Fighter Generation Squadron weapons expediter, was recently awarded the Lance P. Sijan Leadership award from Air Combat Command. Her recognition serves as a resounding testament to the enduring values of diligence, resilience, and unwavering dedication.

  • 552nd Air Control Wing posturing for BMC2 evolution during Agile Thunder

    The 552nd Air Control Wing concluded Agile Thunder, a readiness exercise at Tinker Air Force Base, Hill AFB, and Mountain Home AFB Aug. 14-25, 2023. Agile Thunder is a two-week exercise providing the units a chance to demonstrate operational readiness and agility while generating, employing, and

  • The FACT-Lite helped ensure mission success during Northern Edge 23-2

    The 366th Comm Squadron, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, employed a compact PACSTAR system that enabled SIPR and commercial internet during exercise Northern Edge 23-2 demonstrating U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. The integration of cutting-edge network security technology like the

  • Vietnam War pilot returns home

    The remains of U.S. Air Force pilot Col. Ernest Leo De Soto, who went missing during the Vietnam War, have finally come home. De Soto was assigned to the 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 336th Tactical Fighter Wing, Vietnam when his aircraft went missing. The 390th Electronic Combat Squadron, Naval

  • AFCEC successfully tests multi-capable Airmen airfield repair concept

    The concept of a cross section of Airmen carrying out important wartime tasks seems like a good idea, but does it work? The Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s readiness team set out to prove the concept during a Rapid Damage Repair Multi-Capable Airmen exercise at an Air Force Regional Training Site

  • Additional Strike Eagles arrive to aid Kadena Eagle phased return

    U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles from the 391st Fighter Squadron out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, arrived at Kadena Air Base, Japan, on April 22, 2023, to ensure continuous fighter presence through the phased return of Kadena’s fleet of F-15C/D Eagles to the U.S.

  • 621 CRW supports AGF 23-1; 366 FW Lead Wing certification

    Agile Flag 23-1 provided as a large, total force exercise at Savannah Air National Guard Base, Georgia, and it was where 102 Devil Raiders participated Feb. 28 to March 8 to provide one of Air Combat Command's Lead Wing, the 366th Fighter Wing from Mountain Home, Idaho, a relevant, combat credible

  • Gunfighter lead wing executes ACE ops

    The 366th Fighter Wing lead wing force elements conducted exercise Double Barrel 23-1 Oct. 17-21. Lead Wing exercises are named based on the level of integration between the airbase squadron, command and control element, and the mission generation force element.

  • WWII pilot MIA for 72 years laid to rest at Normandy American Cemetery

    U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William J. McGowan went missing in action on June 6, 1946 just inland of the coast of Normandy. On July 9, 2022, McGowan was laid to rest with full military honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in the presence of family. McGowan was a pilot assigned to the 391st

  • AF crowns Readiness Challenge VIII winners, plans FOC event in 2023

    Following a more than 20-year competition hiatus, the Air Force civil engineering community crowned winners of the Air Force Civil Engineer Readiness Challenge April 22, 2022. The Air Force Civil Engineering Center planned and facilitating the competition, with support from AFIMSC, and a partnership

  • Red Flag 22-2: Thunderbolts lead the way

    During the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force lost more than 1,700 aircraft and thousands of aircrew, sparking an immediate need to better prepare aircrews for combat. After the war ended in 1975, the Air Force established an air-focused exercise called Red Flag where aircrews could simulate

  • 726 ACS practices to perfection at Agile Thunder Exercise 22-1

    The 726th Air Control Squadron participated in Agile Thunder 22-1, an expeditionary skills exercise held at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Agile Thunder tests the capabilities of deployed personnel to perform in time-sensitive scenarios, where preparedness is imperative. As a tactical command and

  • Red Flag 22-2 showcases integration of Air Power

    Red Flag-Nellis 22-2 is underway. Coalition partners have landed and the around-the-clock training has begun. This iteration will focus on tactical integration of cutting edge airpower. These efforts will reinforce the exercise's root purpose to provide junior combat air force aviators and partners

  • Air Combat Command Names Lead Wings 

    The commander of Air Combat Command has designated five units as Lead Wings as part of the combat air force’s transition to the service’s new force generation model. 

  • F-15E’s take part in Dual Capable Aircraft NucWSEP

    F-15E Strike Eagles from Air Combat Command participated in Dual Capable Aircraft Nuclear Weapons System Evaluation Program at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., earlier this fall. As part of the “4+1” future fighter plan, the F-15E provides a complimentary tie from fourth-generation DCA platforms with

  • Gunfighters Maintain Mission Readiness in Gunslinger 21-06

    Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho completed their Phase II Exercise, Gunslinger 21-06 on Oct. 25-29, 2021. Members from across the 366th Fighter Wing completed their second Phase II exercise this month, to test each functional area’s capability and readiness during war operations through simulated

  • Mountain Home Air Force Base Tackles the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

    The mission of the United States Air Force is airpower, anytime and anywhere. Airmen are expected to respond to situations around the world, even during a pandemic. By being fully vaccinated, service members maintain mission readiness without location restrictions. The United States military is

  • Gunfighters at Pacific Iron 21

    Gunfighters deployed in July and August for Operation Pacific Iron to develop a lethal, agile and resilient force posture while applying concepts such as; Agile Combat Employment, Dynamic Force Employment and Multi-capable Airmen.

  • Improving our Air Force with the HoloLens 2

    The 366th Fighter Wing Air Force Repair Enhancement Program (AFREP) technicians now have the HoloLens 2. This is a wireless head mounted augmented reality device that allows service members to touch, grasp and move holograms like it is a real object.

  • Gunfighters Conduct Integrated Combat Turns in the Pacific

    While Gunfighters are no stranger to the rapid rearming and refueling of an F-15E Strike Eagle in areas such as U.S. Central Command and the continental United States, it’s important these techniques are tested in new environments like the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

  • Combat Shield enters Mountain Home AFB

    The 366th Fighter Wing hosted members from Eglin and Nellis Air Force Base during Combat Shield, June 21-25.Combat Shield is a training assessment that tests the effectiveness and functionality of a units’ aircraft electronic warfare systems. There are two teams in Combat Shield: a Maintenance team

  • Mountain Home AFB hosts Gunfighter Flag 21-1

    Gunfighter Flag is a bi-annual exercise hosted by the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Participants are tested in challenging scenarios that improve their skills, combat effectiveness as well as aircrew survivability alongside DoD partners and units across the nation.

  • 34th Fighter Generation Squadron completes Agile Combat Employment exercise

    From April 27-30, Airmen from the 34th Fighter Squadron and 34th Fighter Generation Squadron completed an Agile Combat Employment (ACE) Exercise, designed to prepare Airmen to rapidly forward-deploy fighters and operate from a forward base. Pilots and maintainers from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill

  • 428th FS finishes Red Flag 21-2, adapts to new challenges

    For 46 years, Airmen, Sailors, Marines and Soldiers from around the globe have congregated at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, for the U.S. Air Force’s most premier combat training exercise, Red Flag. For 39 of those years, the Republic of Singapore has strengthened their joint force capabilities by

  • 726th expands deployment readiness with tactical skill sets

    The 726th Air Control Squadron has concluded its inaugural two week Deployment Initial Readiness Training (DIRT) Course. The 20-student DIRT Course educates newer Control and Reporting Center (CRC) Airmen with the necessary skills and knowledge to become deployment-ready at a moment’s notice. The

  • 552nd ACW is ‘snow’ mission ready

    Despite two rounds of heavy snow and arctic temperatures this week, the 552nd Air Control Wing remains mission ready, thanks to dedicated Airmen and the help of associated base partners.

  • Raging Gunfighter creates multi-capable Airmen

    Personnel, exhausted from a hard day’s work, turned in early - preparing for the following days to come. The exercise, dubbed as “Raging Gunfighter”, had only begun. Airmen would need to work together as a team to sustain their living for nearly a week. Raging Gunfighter tested the capabilities of

  • 366th CES virtual staff ride prepares multi-capable Gunfighters

    “To be a successful soldier, you must know history,” -General George Patton Jr. As threats continue to evolve, adaptation means more than expanding our military presence. Airmen are familiarizing themselves with different specialties, allowing them to become true multi-capable Airmen (MCA).

  • Mt. Home: Weed whacking

    This story is part of a series giving an inside look at how the 910th Airlift Wing conducts aerial spray herbicide missions at Mountain Home Air Force Base's Saylor Creek Training Range in Idaho.

  • Gunfighters use VR to create multi-capable Airmen

    It's your first day on the new job and you are headed to the flightline to begin your training. It’s unbearably loud; roaring jets taking flight, tools clanking together, Airmen shouting over the sound of engines.

  • 19th AW supports CAF in Agile Flag 21-1

    Airmen from the 19th Airlift Wing flew to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, October 26-27, to participate in Agile Flag 21-1, showcasing distributed operations and testing agile combat employment capabilities.

  • A historian to remember

    A woman sporting a black shirt and joggers with short brown hair held in place with silver butterfly hair pins scribbles away in a bright red notebook. Standing there, in a patch of grass, she places her hand over her brow to block the sun from her eyes. As she looks around she finds herself

  • Agile Flag 21-1: A chief's perspective

    Agile Flag 21-1 is an experimental exercise that is testing the capability of a lead Wing level A-staff to employ mission generation, command and control, and base operating support elements from the MOAB, while supporting a forward operating base at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and a contingency

  • Chaplaincy brings VR to Agile Flag 21-1

    The 366th Fighter Wing Chaplaincy are also using Agile Flag 21-1 to try test the implementation of virtual reality (VR) as a resiliency tool for Airmen.

  • 552nd ACW Airmen develop integrated opportunities with U.S. Army

    Ten Airmen from the 752nd and 552nd Operational Support Squadrons traveled to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, recently to develop integrated training opportunities with U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery personnel to better prepare for large-scale combat operations.

  • Joint training strengthens air defense capability

    The U.S. Air Force 726th Air Control Squadron (ACS), from Mountain Home AFB, and U.S. Army 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ADA BDE), from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, are integrating their radar, communication networks and defense systems to increase readiness, joint battle management and operation

  • Airman’s invention backed by Spark Tank accelerates change

    Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., said in a recent paper outlining his vision for the Air Force, “If we don’t change - if we fail to adapt - we risk losing the certainty with which we have defended our national interests for decades.” In the spirit of this vision, the Air Force

  • 726th ACS utilizes GFF for Dynamic Scud Hunt training

    Conducting strategic communication, battle management and theater missile defense are just some of the ways that the 726th Air Control Squadron “HARDROCK” maintains control on deployed joint operations. They are one of the several effective organizations on base that bolsters the 366th Fighter Wing

  • MHAFB Privatized Housing Resident Advocate

    The Resident Advocate position was created by the Air Force as part of a sweeping response to improve privatized housing with a clear mandate to rebuild trust in the privatized housing program. That puts the RA squarely in the people business and making sure that Airmen and their families are

  • 366th OMRS starts new medical combat training

    Being healthcare professional in a hostile deployed location requires nerves of steel complemented by extensive knowledge and experience. However for medical technicians on base, there aren’t many real-world environments where Airmen could train while under fire. Or at least, there wasn’t. Earlier

  • Deployed Airmen find hope, resiliency through wingmen

    Due to the unforeseen mission impacts due to COVID-19, the 729th Air Control Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, was unable to replace the members of the 726th ACS on time. This pushed back the 726th redeployment date by almost a month. As COVID-19 continues to impact deployments around the world, Airmen

  • MHAFB Enhances Joint Force Capabilities with Idaho Army National Guard

    Since 1953, the area known as the Orchard Combat Training Center has been a premier joint combined arms training site. At an area roughly 8 miles south of Boise, the Idaho National Guard, Army Reservists and now the 366th Fighter Wing are able to train on 53,000 acres of non-dudded (non-explosive)

  • Maintainers tell all: the struggle of COVID-19

    COVID-19 has forced Airmen to adapt and it wouldn’t be genuine to say it comes without struggle. But the Air Force is a family and, together, Airmen at the 391st FS are finding ways to enhance readiness, despite the challenges.

  • MHAFB brings future faster with hand-held 3-D scanner

    As technology advances around the world, the Air Force continues to fly to new heights. The future is now and MHAFB is bringing it faster with the HandySCAN 3D, a hand-held 3-D scanner that allows Airmen to scan a structure, eliminating the need to hand-draw the structure on the computer.

  • 366th MTF leads the way teaching Tactical Combat Casualty Care

    The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians Tactical Combat Casualty Care course was adopted by the 366th Medical Treatment Facility, Mountain Home Air Force Base medics, back in February 2019. It was then adapted into a condensed version that has since become the standard medical

  • Agile, Mobile: MHAFB adaptive base training

    MHAFB conducted an adaptive basing exercise July 17th, 2019, in order to Spark innovation by finding new and versatile methods for air operations.The Gunfighter team practiced adaptive basing strategies by constructing a training exercise and utilizing a simulated air strip to optimize their

  • 726th ACS updates Control and Reporting Center

    The 726th Air Control Squadron, a geographically separated unit of the 552nd Air Control Wing, impressed at recent training exercise, Red Flag 19-2. Better known by their call sign, Hardrock, the unit became the first to fully integrate the new generation of Control and Reporting Center into their

  • Gunfighter Spark Cell brings innovation to the 366th FW

    The 366th Fighter Wing is designing solutions and improving processes with the Gunfighter Spark Cell innovation competition, a program designed to allow Airmen to submit recommendations for improving processes within their workplaces.Base leadership believes the innovation competition brought

  • Commentary: Gunfighter innovation empowers Airmen to 'take flight'

    Being a Gunfighter means being an innovator. We got our name because someone, in the thick of it and on the front lines, figured out that sticking guns on an airplane was the best way to get the job done. We have always been about getting the job done efficiently and effectively, our motto reflects

  • Building to boost the 366th Fighter Wing capabilities

    Since the base was built in 1942, the Air Force has relied on infrastructure to facilitate key operations that make the Air Force’s mission possible. In Mountain Home AFB history, the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron processes have stayed consistent while improvements and renovations keep base

  • MHAFB squadrons receive funding to drive innovation

    In February of this year, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein announced squadrons across the Air Force would receive a new funding authority with the specific goal of accelerating the implementation of the National Defense Strategy. The innovation fund allocated $64 million to

  • STEM bus brings science to life at Mountain Home AFB

    The base Youth Center partnered with the Micron STEM Bus to bring the world of science, technology, engineering and math to base children.STEM is an area of focus that looks to prepare children for educational opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The STEM

  • Members of F-15E Systems Program Office visit MHAFB

    The F-15E Systems Program Offices were specifically created to address issues aging aircraft may have. The SPO's focus is to ensure reliability and maintainability, as well as streamlining work and improving repair technologies at maintenance depots.During the week-long visit, SPO members learned

  • Gunfighter Flag 18-3, Adaptive Basing

    Adaptive basing exercises require all levels of the squadron to deploy small teams of Airmen and aircraft for a short amount of time to hone their skills.Adaptive basing is the ability to rapidly refuel and re-arm F-15’s in an austere environment, a location we haven’t operated from before. It could

  • Green Flag: Preparing for Close Air Support

    Since the 1980’s, the United States of America has been crowned with air superiority by using the F-15E Strike Eagle’s dual-role fighter capabilities in Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground missions. Preparing for those scenarios that happen down-range requires cooperation from both pilots and Joint

  • 366th SFS celebrates National Police Week

    His Sunday started like any other in Spring 2018. Following his routine, he stopped by the base kennels to feed his K-9 counterpart then departed Mountain Home Air Force Base to the I-84.

  • Thunderbolts light up the sky during Checkered Flag 18-1

    The 366th Fighter Wing “Gunfighters” from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, deployed assets to participate in the large-scale aerial exercise Checkered Flag 18-1 and Combat Archer, a Weapons System Evaluation Program at Tyndall Air Force Base Nov. 6 to 17. The 366th FW sent approximately 240

  • A T-Bolt's last ride

    In April the 389th Fighter Squadron "Thunderbolts" returned here from a six-month deployment in Southwest Asia.As the 20 or so F-15E Strike Eagles taxied in from the runway, the first to come to a stop was that of 389th FS Commander, Lt. Col. Gary Marlowe. He and approximately 500 airmen from the

  • 726th Air Control Squadron jumps into the future

    The 726th Air Control Squadron received its first major Control and Reporting Center weapons system upgrade in 20 years here, May 30. The TYQ-23A Control and Reporting Center system replaces older and bulkier 1980s style operations modules, allowing command and control operators to control a section