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All in on Agile Combat Employment

Story, photos and video by Tech. Sgt. Christian Jadot
144th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

July 13, 2022

FRESNO, Calif. – Airmen from the California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing continue the Air Force testing and validation process for a prototype Agile Combat Employment trailer at Fresno Air National Guard Base.

Born from a napkin idea to improve the 144th Fighter Wing, the trailer's working prototype is currently being evaluated for operational use. The project is four years in the making.

“The trailer started out literally on a bar napkin, with Sgt. Steht and Sgt. Snyder thinking about the ways the Air Force could fight the new fight,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jason Sassano, a maintenance operations officer with the wing's 144th Maintenance Group. “We can literally set up a mobile facility to take our aircraft on the road and quickly deploy in and out of a facility, and turn jets anywhere in the world.”

The idea for the trailer came about during a routine assignment in Sacramento.

“Me and Cory Snyder were out on a TDY, a road trip for an airshow, we came up with the idea of how we could [deploy] faster,” said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Steht. “So it started off as just a basic maintenance recovery team trailer, and little by little, the ACE concept really started to take part. It was embraced by our culture here in the fighter wing. It slowly grew from a bumper pull trailer to the 83 ft. semi truck we see now.”

The Air Force is evaluating the trailer for operational use and deployments.

“We are working with the Nellis test center,” said Staff Sgt. Nick Frost. “Basically they are analyzing the tear down and set up of the ACE trailer. To see the general time it takes for be ready for it to be usable.”

Frost volunteered to help with the tests and got his first hands-on exposure to the trailer the day of the evaluation.

“It is very easy to learn,” said Frost. “I have only been working with it for a couple of hours, and we already have the set up and tear down down.”

With the goal set at 30 minutes for a set up or tear down, the team managed to get it done in under 10 minutes.

“For myself it’s been a major win, because I’ve even blown my own expectations out,” said Steht. “I never thought eight minutes would actually ever come. The process is so simple, people actually grab the concept and make it work.”

The wing's goal for the trailer is to speed up the rapid deployment times for fighter wings across the Air Force.

“We really appreciate the support from our unit, and that goes beyond our unit to California state headquarters. They’ve been supporting us,” said Sassano. “It takes a lot of moving pieces to get this thing to work.”