US Air Force tests ‘base in a box’ in Poland

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  • About 60 airmen from 14 different active, Reserve and Air National Guard units set up this tent city at Poland’s 31st Air Base during a July exercise meant to test a smaller, prototype version of the U.S. Air Force’s deployable air base system, or DABS, construct. This camp is about one-fifth the scale of an actual DABS, exercise organizers say. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • The first-ever DABS proof of concept officially kicked off July 16, when vehicles and supplies started arriving at Poland’s 31st Air Base. This photo shows 12 tents used for living quarters, left, with the headquarters of the 1st Combat Communications Squadron, which provided classified and unclassified radio and internet, right. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • The dining facility, on left, with the camp’s kitchen on right. During the DABS exercise, U.S. Air Force personnel ate breakfast and dinner with Polish forces, while airmen from the 200th RED HORSE Squadron DET 1, Ohio Air National Guard, cooked daily lunches. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • A typical hot lunch of noodles and gravy, fruit cocktail, vegetables, and chocolate cake. The meals were prepared and served by airmen from the 200th RED HORSE Squadron DET 1, Ohio Air National Guard. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • One of the shower facilities available to U.S. Air Force personnel during the DABS proof of concept, which ran from July 16 to Aug. 14, 2018, at Poland’s 31st Air Base. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • Over the course of the exercise, 87 trucks, two C-130J aircraft and a train moved the equivalent of 321 pallets of equipment into Krzesiny, Poland, by July 31. These washing machines were among that sent via C-130 to the 31st Air Base. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • On July 31, several U.S. Air Force civil engineers were tapped to perform airfield work for the Polish armed forces. The troops participating in the DABS exercise used a kit of materiel needed for rapid airfield repairs, such as concrete and asphalt, a variety of saws, and other tools. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • An airman uses a chainsaw to remove damaged concrete before a team of civil engineers fills a sinkhole on a maintenance apron on July 31 at the 31st Air Base near Krzesiny, Poland. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • U.S. Air Force personnel, temporarily deployed to the 31st Air Base in Krzesiny, Poland, unload vehicles and shipping containers full of equipment on July 31. The DABS exercise held in July and August will help the service evaluate how quickly it can move materiel onto a partner nation’s base. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)
  • Over the course of the DABS proof of concept, about 60 vehicles and 161 containers worth of equipment were transported from Sanem, Luxembourg, to Krzesiny, Poland, from July 16 to Aug. 1, 2018. (Valerie Insinna/Staff)