Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Staff Sgt. Keagan Rosario, 421st Aircraft Maintenance Unit BOLT mission systems technician, performs preflight checks on an F-35A Lightning II fighter jet May 31, 2019, at Aviano Air Base. The F-35A is an agile, versatile, high-performance, 9G capable multirole fighter that combines stealth, sensor fusion and unprecedented situational awareness. Airmen from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are in Europe as part of a Theater Security Package. Currently they are participating in Astral Knight 2019, a joint and multinational exercise that involves airmen, soldiers and sailors from the United States and airmen from Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia. The exercise is an integrated air and missile defense exercise focused on conducting integrated defense of key terrain. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jim Araos)190531-F-UP786-321
                        
                        
                        Staff Sgt. Keagan Rosario, 421st Aircraft Maintenance Unit BOLT mission systems technician, performs preflight checks on an F-35A Lightning II fighter jet, May 31, 2019, at Aviano Air Base, Italy. Airmen from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are in Europe as part of a Theater Security Package. Currently they are participating in Astral Knight 2019, a joint and multinational exercise that involves Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors from the United States, and airmen from Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. The exercise is an integrated air and missile defense exercise focused on defending key terrain. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jim Araos)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Agile BOLT maintainers support F-35 deploymentPublished June 5, 2019
                    
                    By Micah Garbarino
                    
                    
                    388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
            **AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFNS) --**Maintainers in an innovative 388th Maintenance Group have taken two huge steps while developing a program that continues to push and streamline F-35A Lightning II sustainment.
These Blended Operational Lightning Technician or BOLT maintainers are currently deployed alongside the 421st Fighter Squadron during a Theater Security Package to Europe and they’ve sent the first 388th Fighter Wing maintainer to ever be qualified in six different aspects of F-35 maintenance.
The BOLT program combines maintenance-specific Air Force specialty codes, essentially job descriptions, into two career tracks. Maintainers in the air vehicle track are crew chiefs, fuels and low observable technicians. Airmen in the mission systems track focus on avionics, weapons and egress.
This training allows a single Airman to perform multiple inspections and do the associated work required in areas where they are qualified. They don’t have to wait for qualified Airmen from other specialties to complete inspections or any required fixes on the aircraft.
“The BOLT Airmen who are here with us offer widespread benefit. They will allow us to deploy the same aircraft with a smaller number of Airmen than we would at home station,” said Col. Michael Miles, 388th Maintenance Group commander. “This is a new way to train our Airmen to be more operationally focused and that ties directly to the primary mission sets of the F-35A.”
The goal of the BOLT program is less down time, more productivity and a smaller maintenance footprint required for each jet. Reducing the size of the maintenance force allows commanders more combat flexibility for quickly deploying a small number of aircraft to a remote airfield with fewer Airmen.
Succeeding in the program is challenging and can seem overwhelming because many Airmen want to be experts at everything as soon as they enter. But the ones who catch on are better equipped in their careers because this type of maintenance is “inevitable” in the future, said Master Sgt. Dantorrie Herring, BOLT lead.
Tech Sgt. Jesse Mitchell, currently deployed with the 421st Fighter Squadron05227 in support of the multinational exercise Astral Knight 2019, is the first maintainer to be qualified in all six functions. He is able to sign-off on fixes to any area that may be keeping a jet from flying. He's been a BOLT maintainer since January 2018.
“I love BOLT,” said Mitchell, a native of Wichita, Kansas. “I think it’s a personality thing. I don’t stagnate. It was a challenge learning all these different areas, but I studied. I got a lot of hands-on training from the experts in each area and it’s paid off.”
Mitchell, a former F-16 Fighting Falcon maintainer, entered the F-35 world as a crew chief, then learned avionics – basically all the “fun systems the pilots get to play with” – and just kept going until he had completed all the others: fuels, low-observable maintenance, weapons and egress. Now, he is able to clear a “red x” in any of those six systems and return a jet to flying status. It’s a rare achievement.
Currently, there are nearly 60 Airmen in the 388th Fighter Wing BOLT program.
“This is just a starting point for our BOLT maintainers,” Miles said. “We’ll be doing other things with them (throughout our time in Europe) and we’ll take the lessons learned and weave them into our planning for the next time we’re tasked.”421st Aircraft Maintenance Unit 



F-35A Lightning II 



Theater Security Package 



Blended Operational Lightning Technician 



bolt 



Air Force Specialty Codes 



Air Vehicle track 



crew chiefs 



Fuels 



low observable technicians 



Mission Systems track 



avionics 



weapons 



egress 



Astral Knight Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander emphasizes five focus areas during AFA Warfare Symposium
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil