Posted 5/3/2007 Updated 5/4/2007
by Theresa Vanden-Heuvel
309th AMARG Public Affairs
5/3/2007 - DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- In an activation ceremony here May 2, the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center was officially redesignated as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, under the 309th Maintenance Wing located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Brig. Gen. Arthur B. Cameron III, commander of the 309th MXW, presided over the group activation ceremony and appointed Col. Anthony A. Panek, the former commander of AMARC, as the 309th AMARG commander in a flag unfurling.
The ceremony also served to activate four subordinate squadrons, which will continue to conduct the group's core industrial operations: the 576th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Squadron, which performs regeneration and specialized aircraft repair; the 577th Commodities Reclamation Squadron, which removes, inspects, repairs and delivers aircraft parts and subassemblies; the 578th Storage and Disposal Squadron, which prepares more than $34 billion in aerospace assets for storage and possible activation; and the 309th Support Squadron, responsible for supply, packaging and shipping, receipt of aircraft, and other continuing support functions.
The 309th MXW provides direction on all matters pertaining to depot repair, modification and maintenance for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, A-10 Thunderbolt and C-130 Hercules aircraft to Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, an Air Force Materiel Command base.
The alignment of AMARC under the 309th MXW is the result of an AFMC effort to consolidate weapon system development under a single command chain and to align programming, budgeting and execution for similar portfolios under a single organization structure. This concept will allow AMARC's mission to remain intact with an additional reach-back capability for support activities.
The activation of AMARG also provides a group and squadron structure more traditional to the Air Force and mirrors the larger Air Logistics Centers within AFMC. This new commonality in organization aims to provide integrated capability to the Air Force's warfighting customer by replacing individual program offices with consolidated units focused on common capabilities.
Occupying 2,600 acres of desert southwest and renowned for its impressive footprint of 4,400 military aircraft within the Tucson city limits, the center will continue to use its widely recognized and legacy name "AMARC" in some circumstances.
The number of people currently assigned to the center has not changed due to the new designations.