Solving the phase puzzle: 307th MXG supports B-52 readiness milestone

Official Statements

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Aircraft availability across the 307th Maintenance Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, has climbed to a10-year high, meeting the goals of Air Force Global Strike Command's North Star Readiness Campaign and putting more ready B-52 Stratofortress bombers in the hands of the aircrews who train, test and fly them.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “AFGSC launched the command-wide campaign in the summer of 2025 to boost bomber readiness through restructured logistics chain, streamlined maintenance processes and targeted resource allocation. For the Reserve Citizen Airmen of the 307th MXG, who work side by side with the active-duty 2nd Bomb Wing under a Total Force Integration model, the gains came from rethinking how the work gets done.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: "Sustaining this aircraft availability milestone is the foundation of our flight training mission," said Col. David Martinez, 307th Bomb Wing commander. "Our maintainers ensure that the 93rd Bomb Squadron remains fully equipped to produce combat-ready B-52 aircrews for the entire Air Force." Those gains matter well beyond the flight line. The 307th MXG maintains aircraft for three distinct flying missions at Barksdale. The 307th Bomb Wing's flying squadron is the B-52 Formal Training Unit, where every B-52 aircrew member in the Air Force trains at some point in their career.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “The 340th Weapons Squadron is the B-52 division of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It produces the Air Force's most advanced B-52 tactical experts, which Senior Master Sgt. Brett Jordan, 307th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron lead production superintendent, calls "the Top Gun of the Air Force."

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron, part of the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, conducts the B-52's operational testing, evaluating new weapons, software and tactics before they reach the rest of the fleet.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: "They're getting trained on tactics that are just coming out, versus having to learn them on your own once they get there in a real-world situation," said Jordan, who came up as a crew chief. "If aircraft aren't available, pilots can't fly. If you can't fly aircraft in a bomber unit, there is no mission."

  Solving the phase puzzle

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Nowhere is that work more visible than the phase dock, where B-52s come in for in-depth periodic inspections. Senior Master Sgt. Steven Spivey started as a crew chief in that dock and, over 17 years, worked his way up to maintenance flight chief for the 307th Maintenance Squadron. "Phase maintenance is a set number of flying hours or calendar time that an aircraft is required to come in and be inspected for airworthiness," Spivey said.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Under the campaign, Spivey's team examined every step of that process and began treating phase like a jigsaw puzzle. When one section of the jet isn't ready, crews shift people and resources to another instead of waiting. "Just because you want to start with the left side, sometimes that left side is not ready to go, so we'll have to incorporate the right side," Spivey said. "When you can put that piece of the jigsaw together, it saves us time. And the people have to be flexible."

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Jordan sees the same mindset on the flight line, where the morning plan rarely survives the walk out to the jets. "What can we do to get this done faster, but safer?" he said. The team holds a hot wash after every phase to identify what to sustain and what to improve, and junior Airmen get a prominent voice. "We try to get the younger Airmen involved because they see something different than us," Spivey said.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “The improvements reach beyond Barksdale. Spivey's team worked with dock chiefs and supervisors from the 2nd Bomb Wing and the 5th Bomb Wing, the Air Force's other active-duty B-52 wing, based at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, to develop and implement a standardized phase playbook for the B-52 fleet. "We really were able to create connections so that we can reach out to the 2nd or the 5th if we encounter a problem that we've never dealt with before, and vice versa," Spivey said.”

  The Reserve advantage

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: "The maintenance world asks a lot of these Airmen," said Col. Terrell Eikner, 307th MXG commander. "It's not a desk job. It's hot outside or cold outside. But the rewards in maintenance are great, and I couldn't be more proud of the work my folks do." Reserve Airmen at Barksdale have maintained the B-52 for more than 30 years. Many of the 307th's maintainers are full-time Reservists who have spent decades on the same airframe, some of Jordan's maintainers have even worked on the B-52 since the 1980s.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Because active-duty and Reserve Airmen work side by side, that experience stays on the flight line and passes to the next generation. "Seeing younger Airmen that you've trained when they first got here grow and rise to where they're closer to filling your shoes, it's gratifying," Jordan said. With most of the current phase leadership five to seven years from retirement, Spivey's team is deliberately preparing its successors. "We are ensuring they know at least two jobs up in their position," he said.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “When the team recently asked for weekend volunteers to keep a tight phase schedule on track, 20 people raised their hands. "I think they just care," Spivey said. "I think it's a sense of purpose."

  Into the 2050s

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “That dedication is keeping a bomber, which is older than its own maintainers, ready for decades more service. The fleet is set to become the B-52J, with eight new Rolls-Royce F130 engines replacing the TF33s it has flown with since the 1960s, along with a modernized radar system.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Spivey expects the new engines to change the phase dock. "Having these newer engines that haven't been rebuilt over and over and over again, I think we're going to save even more time, and possibly be able to shorten the phase process," he said.”

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “Because the 307th MXG supports the 49th TES, its maintainers are already helping shape that future, supporting modification teams and providing the aircraft that test the capabilities meant to keep the B-52 flying into the 2050s. For Jordan, that long view is part of the reward. "When I started, they used to say the grandfather of the last B-52 pilot hadn't even been born yet," he said. "To think it's encompassed the 307th for as long as it has, to have a small piece of that, it's rewarding."

• 307th Bomb Wing, November 13: “[[SS1]]()Is this different than AMS? Where Senior Jordan works?”