Inside the U.S. Airpower Reserve

309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group’s vital facility is far more than a ‘boneyard.’

Ryan Ewing

Friday, February 13, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group facility in Tucson, Arizona [Credit: Connor O'Shea]

Key Takeaways:

The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), or "The Boneyard," is a vital logistics and preservation facility for U.S. and allied military aircraft, not simply a scrapyard.
AMARG functions as a global parts reservoir, supplying over 10,000 critical components annually, often as the sole source for legacy aircraft parts to prevent grounded fleets.
The facility meticulously preserves over 3,400 aircraft, enabling their rapid regeneration and return to service, demonstrated by strategic bombers being reactivated in as little as 69 days.
Leveraging Arizona's dry climate to slow corrosion, AMARG serves as a crucial "silent insurance policy" for national security, extending the life of aging fleets and ensuring mission readiness.

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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.