144th Fighter Wing Surge exercise

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jose Mendoza, an aircraft electrical and environmental systems specialist with the144th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron pulls the circuit breakers from the panel of an F-16, after replacing Halon containers during an exercise in Fresno, Calif. on June 4, 2011. The exercise validates a unit’s ability to perform its wartime mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt Robin D. Meredith/ released)

F-16’s Surge Over Fresno Skies

Published June 5, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Charles Vaughn
144th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Fresno, Calif. -- The California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing flew 26 F-16 Fighting Falcon sorties June 4 as part of a "surge" exercise designed to test sortie production capability. This exercise allowed the wing to assess and validate corrective actions implemented after their recent operational readiness inspection.

The surge was successful thanks to the efforts of the many Citizen Airmen like Tech. Sgt. Jose Mendoza, an aircraft electrical and environmental systems specialist with the144th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

Mendoza had to perform maintenance on the F-16 assigned to him during the surge before the aircraft would be needed for another training sortie. Pilots from the wing's 194th Fighter Squadron flew the 26 sorties throughout the day.
The surge took place between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and was a critical test for both maintainers and pilots.

"Exercises are critical to us, it's what we live by. This is a way for the 144th Fighter Wing to validate we are up to Air Force standards to do our mission" said Col. Sami Said, 144th Fighter Wing Commander.