SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C — Seymour Johnson Air Force Base recently received an F-15C Eagle from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

The F-15C Eagle will be used for weapons load training (WLT) and aircraft maintenance qualification program (AMQP) to train on without having to take the F-15E Strike Eagles from combat airpower missions.

“Right now, we supply an F-15E to AMQP and two F-15Es to WLT,” said Capt. Denny Miller, 4th Maintenance Group director of operations. “We were pulling resources from aircraft that could potentially be flying.”

Before the arrival of the F-15C, Miller scheduled aircraft to go to AMQP when they become non-mission capable to retain aircraft availability while waiting on replacement parts. In instances where all aircraft were able to fly, Miller would take jets that were mission capable to use for weapons training purposes, which would subtract from the total flying force.

“The F-15C is going to be a permanent weapons load trainer so it doesn’t have to effectively fly,” explained Miller. “WLT will use it for loading and unloading inert munitions.”

Another benefit of the F-15C is that F-15E Strike Eagles had to be reconfigured for training purposes at AMQP, which took time and manpower away from flight line operations. Now with the F-15C, the aircraft will be a permanent solution for time and resource retainability.

“It’s great because it gives us one more aircraft back in the fight,” said Miller.

With the addition of the F-15C to Seymour Johnson’s training program, Airmen will have more opportunities to remain lethal, ready and professional.