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Adapt, overcome, conquer: Iron Hand 24-06

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Mariana Tafur
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

At Shaw Air Force Base, the 20th Fighter Wing teaches, trains, and performs every day in missions and exercises such as Iron Hand; forging a culture of commitment, courage, and mastery.

For four days, the 20th Component Maintenance Squadron, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron, 20th Force Support Squadron, 20th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, and the 55th Fighter and Fighter Generation Squadrons worked in unison, coordinating their expertise to ensure aircraft were mission-ready during Iron Hand 24-06.

“Iron Hand is an agile combat employment exercise for the 20th Fighter Wing,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Alex Kimber, 55th FS director of operations. “Basically, we’re simulating that we’re deployed and operating out of two different locations - the main operating base and a forward operating site - generating more combat airpower from those two locations.”

This exercise with simulated real-world conflict scenarios provided Airmen the opportunity to sharpen combat readiness, adaptability, and operational efficiency.

On the second day of IH, the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, supported the 20th FW with a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III. Their collaboration with the 55th FGS was crucial in transporting munitions to a contingency location, demonstrating the seamless integration of efforts essential for mission accomplishment.

During the exercise, the 55th FGS aircraft armament systems team conducted numerous aircraft missile loading and unloading operations with limited resources and Capt. Mitchell Williams, 55th FGS director of operations, stated the 55th FGS’s objective is to practice dispersed operations on the MOB, FOS and CL.

The CL is another forward operating base from the FOS at which the 55th FGS set up and performed an integrated combat turn, where they reloaded and refueled a jet to generate combat airpower before evacuating the location.

The tasks practiced and developed in exercises like Iron Hand 24-06 are crucial for Airmen to maintain mission and deployment readiness across various military operations. Each training scenario conducted at Shaw AFB contributes to the 20th Fighter Wing’s overall progress for continued mission sustainment and readiness for the Great Power Competition.