Saudi Arabia. (May 28, 2024): To achieve air superiority over the enemy, America flies the most sophisticated aircraft in the world. However, these fifth-generation fighters are useless without somewhere to land and take off. In the photo above, an Air Force pavement and equipment technician assigned to the 378th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron cuts concrete to repair the flightline. The success of any air campaign rests on the skill and technical expertise of these specialists to keep runways operating in some of the most austere environments in the world.

Pavement and equipment technicians construct and maintain asphalt runways, aircraft parking spaces, and roadways. Their job involves everything from construction duties to detonating explosives as they build runways and create the needed facilities. They operate and maintain heavy construction equipment such as loaders, graders, bulldozers, backhoes, and dump trucks. They also transport heavy equipment in tractor-trailer combinations quickly and safely to where they are needed. Once on site, these technicians ensure that all safety and environmental regulations are followed in the handling and storing of construction materials. Perhaps the most dangerous part of their job is designing demolition projects and placing and detonating explosives.

To become a pavement and equipment technician, candidates must be at least seventeen and possess a high school diploma or equivalent. After Basic, students attend sixty-nine days of advanced training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and are likely to be deployed overseas in support of air operations.

America’s sophisticated aircraft can land virtually anywhere in the world thanks to these highly trained runway construction crews.