SPACE FORCE BASE VANDENBERG, Calif. – -- Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 372, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and Sailors with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, concluded Exercise Resilient Spear 25-04 Aug. 15 after two weeks of integrated airfield damage repair training. The exercise tested the joint force’s ability to rapidly repair runways and sustain aviation operations in austere environments.
The training focused on critical aviation ground support tasks including battle damage assessment and rapid airfield repair, while strengthening joint-force integration between Marine and Navy units. MWSS-372 Marines embedded with NMCB-5’s Airfield Construction Companies A and B, supporting the Navy’s pre-deployment evaluation through every phase of the mission: planning, logistics, and full-scale repair operations.
“This training is specific to what we are preparing to see in a future engagement,” said Construction Mechanic 1st Class Michael Gonzalez, a mechanic with NMBC-5. “This will be the most realistic training we will conduct preparing for real-world damage repair and the time required to prepare an airfield to get planes on the ground, refueled, rearmed, and back in the air.”
Over the two weeks, Marines and Sailors faced multiple iterations of simulated airfield attacks. Once the simulated attack ended, the engineers and recovery teams quickly moved onto the runway to assess the damage. The airfield commander then made a critical call in identifying the minimum operating strip. Instead of repairing every crater across the airfield, which could take days, the teams focused on restoring just enough of the runway to safely launch and recover aircraft needed to meet the mission.
“Our job is to get the damage assessed and repaired and to get the minimum operating strip back up and running as fast as possible,” said Lance Cpl. Mark Kuhns, a combat engineer with MWSS-372. “By focusing on the minimum strip, we can be done in a couple hours, depending on the intensity of the attack conditions.”
The tempo pushed Marines and Sailors to their limits.
“It’s challenging to work through the night, wake up early, and jump right back in, especially if you think you’re going to bed and then there’s another strike,” Kuhns said. “But the reward comes when you look back after a 16-hour day and realize the team executed perfectly.”
Resilient Spear highlighted aviation ground support as a mission-critical enabler of aviation operations. MWSS-372 brought a broad range of capabilities to the field including engineering, motor transport and heavy equipment operation. This ensured the integrated teams could restore airfield functionality under pressure.
Each integrated team was held to a strict performance objective: conduct repairs on a minimum of 30 craters and 150 spalls over 12 hours, maintaining a sustained repair rate of 2.5 craters and 12.5 spalls per hour. The work required speed, precision and communication between services operating under simulated post-attack conditions.
“When missiles or cluster bombs strike, engineers have to patch the holes fast,” said Kuhns. “Whether we’re here at Space Force Base Vandenberg, or in an island chain setting up a forward arming and refueling point, getting aircraft safely on the ground to refuel and get back in the fight is mission critical.”
Although the Navy’s Expeditionary Rapid Airfield Damage Repair system differs from the Marine Corps’ approach to airfield damage repair, both Marines and Sailors quickly adapted to the equipment and procedures, demonstrating flexibility and reinforcing joint operational readiness and innovation.
“Working with the Marines teaches us new ways to execute,” Gonzalez said. “They offer improvements in methods and techniques such as using different tools to level the concrete and getting equipment inside the craters themselves to repair them, which we haven’t done before.”
Resilient Spear 25-04 was designed to reflect the challenges of operating in a distributed, peer-threat environment. By integrating with the Navy’s airfield construction companies during their pre-deployment evaluation, MWSS-372 not only supported a critical readiness milestone but also strengthened its own ability to operate in future joint missions across the globe.
“Resilient Spear captured the incredible ability of the Navy-Marine team to rapidly composite a force and achieve a crucial objective. History teaches us that successful combat operations for a carrier strike group and an amphibious ready group depend on forward positioned airfields” said Lt. Col. Chad Fitzgerald, the commanding officer of MWSS-372.
This training sharpened both services’ ability to restore airfields in a time-constrained environment, while fostering a deeper understanding of each other’s doctrine and tools, laying the foundation for more cohesive joint operations in the future.
“Our squadron’s motto is ‘Support Within Striking Distance’. In modern conflicts, striking distance means you can hit the enemy, and the enemy can hit you,” Fitzgerald said. “Resilient Spear demonstrated the readiness of the Navy-Marine team to stand in the breach, survive, and rapidly repair an airfield for follow-on aviation operations.”