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), known as "The Boneyard," is a critical operational logistics engine for U.S. and allied military aviation, serving as a global parts reservoir and a strategic reserve, not merely an aircraft graveyard.
AMARG's primary missions involve meticulously preserving over 3,400 aircraft, enabling their rapid regeneration back into service (e.g., strategic bombers in weeks) or the reclamation of vital components for active fleets, often delivering high-priority parts for grounded aircraft within 24 hours.
Leveraging its arid desert location for natural preservation, AMARG plays an essential role in ensuring the readiness of aging fleets and acts as a crucial national security insurance policy against supply chain disruptions and unexpected demands.
Staffed predominantly by civilians, AMARG continuously optimizes its processes and scales operations to meet increasing demand, supporting a vast array of aircraft from various government agencies spanning decades of aviation history.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.