​Inside the U.S. Airpower Reserve

From the moment you cross into the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the desert looks like it’s been overrun by aluminum. Aircraft stretch to every horizon—jets, transporters, helicopters, shapes both familiar and forgotten—lined with geometric precision in the sun-bleached earth.

It feels, at first glance, like an enormous scrapyard.

But that perception evaporates as soon as you meet the people who run the massive facility, known more simply as “The Boneyard.” 

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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Far from being a graveyard, this site is one of the most remarkable logistics engines in American military aviation—a global parts reservoir, a strategic hedge against uncertainty, and a preservation program whose scale is unmatched anywhere in the world.

“We are the lifeline for the military currently,” said Colonel Redahlia Person, AMARG’s commander, on a toasty Arizona afternoon at the facility. “As far as parts, we are the last line. So a lot of active-duty units want to utilize us right off the bat when they can’t get a part, but we are very diligent about making sure they realize this may be the last one that you take.”

For decades, the facility has quietly ensured the readiness of U.S. and allied fleets, often making the difference between grounded aircraft and mission readiness. This desert is, in many ways, one of the world’s most important aircraft-shaped warehouses.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit a handful of civilian aircraft storage facilities over the years, including one right up Interstate 10 at Pinal Airpark (KMZJ). However, none can match AMARG’s scale. In September, I spent an entire day at the facility.

More Than a ‘Boneyard’

The public imagines AMARG as a fenced-in field of retired jets destined for scrapping. The truth is far more interesting.

Aircraft arrive almost daily—from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, NASA, Homeland Security, Forest Service, and foreign militaries. 

More than 3,400 aircraft sit across the facility’s 2,600 acres, along with thousands of engines and more than 270,000 pieces of aerospace production tooling used to build or maintain
aircraft no longer manufactured.

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Yet nothing here is simply parked. Preservation is an orchestrated process. Aircraft are washed, drained, sealed, desiccant-packed, taped, shrink-wrapped, and placed in storage categories that can allow them to fly again.

“The primary mission is to basically preserve these aircraft after they retire,” Person said. “There are ones that we know we can regenerate quickly that can fly again, and there are ones that we store so we can go and pull parts off them.”

The desert itself is a key enabler. The hard caliche soil eliminates the need for pavement, and southeast Arizona’s dry climate slows corrosion to nearly zero. AMARG’s careful preservation turns long-retired aircraft into a ready reserve of capability—should the nation ever need it.

Regenerating Airframes When It Matters

“If the nation needs us to regenerate airplanes, we are ready,” Person said matter-of-factly.

That readiness isn’t theoretical. AMARG has recently regenerated two B-1B Lancers and a B-52H for Air Force Global Strike Command—bombers that had been sealed and stored in the desert.

“Something happened to a B-1 or 52, and they needed another aircraft,” she said. “We had one here that was preserved very well where all we had to do was, within 69 days, put it back together and send it off to Global Strike.”

Sixty-nine days—for a strategic bomber.

Once an aircraft is sealed, it stops receiving technical orders. To regenerate it, AMARG must complete all deferred work—sometimes years’ worth. Yet 10-15 percent of the aircraft here can be brought back relatively quickly if required.

Aircraft returned to flight from the facility aren’t anomalies—they’re part of the mission. And that mission remains a powerful component of America’s national security posture.

Reclamation: Beating Heart of AMARG

If regeneration is the facility’s headline capability, reclamation is the daily engine.

AMARG delivered 10,162 parts in fiscal year 2025, up sharply in recent years. Roughly 85 percent of those shipments were high priority, and about half were priority 1-3, meaning they supported grounded or mission-impaired aircraft.

“Our average for a priority aircraft part is 12-15 days from request to shipment,” said one of the managers in AMARG’s Operations Center. “But if it’s a MICAP—mission incapable—we can get it out in under 24 hours.”

The range of materials reclaimed is astonishing—actuators, avionics modules, landing-gear trunnions, entire flaps, engines, and even wings. I saw C-5 landing-gear components roughly the size of a compact car sitting beside parts from a KC-135 built during the Kennedy administration.

Before shipping, everything is washed, degreased, inspected, tagged, and boxed—sometimes in crates large enough to resemble tiny sheds. The speed and reliability of this workflow make AMARG the fallback supply chain for legacy fleets whose manufacturers no longer produce certain components.

“We are a source of supply,” said public affairs manager Rob Raine, explaining that AMARG delivers more than 10,000 parts a year. 

With legacy fleets aging and manufacturers no longer producing many components, AMARG has become the place the services rely on when nowhere else can deliver.

Rows of Rarity: Touring AMARG’s Unique Airframes

While AMARG’s operational importance is undeniable, its visual impact is something else entirely. Walking among thousands of preserved aircraft is a surreal experience—like wandering through a living time capsule of American airpower.

Aircraft here span nearly 70 years of history. Among the oldest is a 1950s-era EB-57B, still preserved thanks to the climate and meticulous sealing. Among the newest is the RO-6 (a modified DHC-8). 

The size range is equally dramatic. The LC-130H Hercules and C-5 tower above many of their neighbors, while the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopter sits not far away—one of the smallest operational platforms stored at AMARG.

Then there are the aircraft collected in sheer volume. The F-16, numbering more than 350 airframes, is the single most common on the property. But it’s the rare and iconic platforms that captivate the most.

AMARG still holds some of the last intact F-14 Tomcats outside of museums—including one with a confirmed air-to-air victory. The F-14A (bureau number 159437) downed a Libyan MiG-23 on January 4, 1989, near the Gulf of Sidra. The Tomcat has a confirmed combat record of five aerial victories for the U.S. Navy, including the downing of two Libyan Su-22s, two MiG-23s, and one Iraqi Mi-8 helicopter. Seeing a Tomcat preserved in the desert rather than a climate-controlled gallery is striking. Five remain on the property, albeit in varying conditions. 

Rows of AV-8B Harriers sit with their Pegasus intakes gaping open. These were “some of the loudest arrivals we’ve ever had,” Raine said. Dozens of S-3 Vikings—once the Navy’s submarine hunters—are lined up wingtip to wingtip, many with their engines opened for demilitarization. Some wear humorous hand-painted intake covers left by maintainers.

The now-retired EA-6B Prowlers, still wearing distinctive Marine Corps and Navy squadron markings, sit frozen as if awaiting the next ECM mission. AMARG regenerated seven C-23 Sherpas for the U.S. Forest Service’s smokejumper program—aircraft now fighting wildfires across the West.

The variety feels endless. There are C-20 Gulfstream variants, pallets of turbine engines, KC-10 Extenders, newly arrived Army Black Hawks, CBP P-3s, and specialized surveillance aircraft. AMARG isn’t without its share of quirks. Sometimes airframes are discovered with beehives inside, aircraft once intended to become restaurants, and crates occasionally hiding venomous reptiles.

“When you go to move a box, you know, the guys find rattlesnakes all the time,” Raine said. “It’s like every third box, there’s a snake.”

There are also the true aviation rarities, quietly tucked away among the rows. One such gem is the Convair XC‑99, the largest piston-engined, land-based transport ever built. It never entered mass production, yet the sole prototype ended up at AMARG in pieces. It sits here in storage as both relic and reserve—comrades with cut-up B‑52 Stratofortress bombers whose wings and tails were severed to comply with nuclear-treaty obligations.

Beyond aircraft, AMARG stores more than 270,000 pieces of aerospace tooling—jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, and test equipment needed to support legacy fleets. The tooling yards are vast. Mechanics recall discovering everything from vintage assembly jigs to molds for components no longer supported by industry.

Workforce of Specialists

Despite its location on a military base, AMARG is overwhelmingly civilian.

“Here, I only have four military [members], including myself,” Person said. “Ninety-nine percent of this organization is civilian, and they come from all walks of life. I have folks that are painters. I have folks that come out here and wash airplanes. I have folks that are really good with chainsaws and know how to cut up metal. I’ve got egress technicians. I even have financial managers—people who enjoy working spreadsheets and creating slides. There is a place for everyone here.”

But staffing remains a challenge.

“We have been struggling,” she said, regarding mechanic hiring. “Right now, we’re on a hiring freeze, so that has not helped us.”

To counter the looming retirement wave of its highly skilled workforce, AMARG is turning to the local communities.

“We are looking for ways to [reach] high school students,” Person said. “Maybe you like working with your hands. We have internships for you to come here and start working on aircraft as soon as you graduate.”

Scaling for the Future

With global supply chains strained, AMARG must be ready to support surges in demand.

“We went from 6,000 parts to around 10,000 in just a couple years,” an operations manager said. “Mostly with the same number of people. It’s process optimization.”

Lean manufacturing methods, organization, and cross-training have transformed AMARG from a storage depot into a high-output industrial operation. AMARG may sit in the desert, but it runs like a modern aerospace factory.

Stored and Prepared

Toward the end of the visit, an F-15 thundered overhead, ferrying in for its final flight—at least for now. Raine looked up and smiled. That constant motion—quiet, relentless, essential—defines AMARG far more than its rows of parked aircraft ever could. These aircraft are not dead. They are dormant. Stored for the day—if it ever comes—when their parts, airframes, or systems will be needed again.

AMARG is a silent insurance policy for the nation—one that preserves capability, buys time for aging fleets, and ensures that no grounded jet stays grounded for long. In an era of stressed supply chains, rising global tensions, and aging aircraft across every fleet, AMARG’s mission has never been more vital. 

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This feature first appeared in the February Issue 967 of the FLYING print edition.