Debbie Aragon
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – The new Air Force Joint Air-transportable Containerized Kitchen System is being put through its paces this month during the 11th Air Task Force training event on the Combat Support Training Range at the Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
“Being able to accomplish the final test and evaluation phase for the JACKS mission feeding platform during the ATF training is a great opportunity,” said Col. Chip Hollinger, Air Force Services Center mission director.
Several years ago, members of the U.S. Special Operations Command’s 24th Rapid Deployment Squadron developed the system to meet the needs of their agile mission set supporting USSOCOM assets globally.
“The services community then took an interest in it as a viable upgrade to the Air Force’s current unit kitchen, the Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen, or SPEK,” said Joseph McNamara, AFSVC Readiness and Plans Division interim chief.
The SPEK can only cook unitized group rations that are thermally processed, pre-prepared, and shelf-stable commercial food items, similar to MREs, but in bulk to feed around 550 people.
“The JACKS, also a single-pallet platform, can do the same as the SPEK but at a higher capacity,” McNamara said. “It can also prepare fresh rations, which means we can offer the full range of rations in a deployed environment.”
From its inception, the system has undergone multiple revisions to better suit end users, said Master Sgt. Luke Hickox, AFSVC JACKS developer and program manager.
“Once we became interested in it as a services-wide feeding platform, we had a research, development, testing and evaluation contract put in place to test it at the U.S. Army’s Soldier Center in Natick, Massachusetts,” Hickox said. “It has now been inspected and outfitted with modernized appliances, common to services, to support Air Force field-feeding and ration requirements with the finalized configuration delivered for end-user testing during the CSTR events in Florida.”
On the range, ATF Airmen who have no prior experience with the system are testing it thoroughly, giving AFSVC the chance to push it to its limits with the large number of personnel fed.
Staff Sgt. Rene Urbina, production manager and food service supervisor with the 49th Force Support Squadron at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, is helping to test the system at Tyndall.
“The JACKS has more space with a bigger variety of equipment to allow us to do more contingency cooking and present better meals to personnel in a field environment,” Urbina said.
During the training event, Urbina and the services team at Silver Flag have already served meals to more than 100 people at a time with everything going smoothly.
Likening the JACKS to a middle ground between basic SPEK operations and those found at a standard dining facility, the sergeant said, “if it’s not possible to have a DFAC downrange, the JACKS seems to be a great system that will allow commanders to provide their troops with better, higher-quality meals.”
Using the system during the ATF training is a major enterprise-wide milestone that will culminate in the finalization of a new field-feeding kitchen platform designed to support multi-capable and mission-ready Airmen, Hollinger said.
“The feedback gained by the deployment at CSTR will help us solidify how many people the kitchen can support and give us other valuable data for the future development of this critical contingency feeding platform,” Hollinger added.
With the new kitchen, AFSVC is hoping to deliver Department of the Air Force services personnel with greater capability and flexibility in providing food service to warfighters … fueling the human weapon system.
AFSVC will analyze feedback gathered during the event, moving the JACKS one step closer to full delivery and employment at each deployable combat wing, RED HORSE squadron, Silver Flag training site and, ultimately, training sites around the world within the next few years.
Airmen enjoy dinner prepared using the Joint Air-Transportable Kitchen System, or JACKS, field feeding system during a Combat Support Training Range event at the Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Silver Flag training site Jan. 15, 2025. The new expeditionary feeding platform being tested is capable of providing a broad spectrum of rations using modernized equipment to quickly serve a large number of personnel in the field. (U.S. Air Force photo by Emily Mifsud) 
Airmen serving dinner out of the Joint Air-Transportable Kitchen System, or JACKS, field feeding system during a Combat Support Training Range event at the Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Silver Flag training site Jan. 15, 2025. The new expeditionary feeding platform is capable of providing a broad spectrum of rations using modernized equipment to quickly serve a large number of personnel in the field. (U.S. Air Force photo by Emily Mifsud) 
An Airman pulls a unitized group ration tray from a ration tray heater Jan. 15, 2025. The UGR tray and heating equipment is part of the Joint Air-Transportable Kitchen System, or JACKS, field feeding system being tested during a Combat Support Training Range event at the Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Silver Flag training site. The new expeditionary feeding platform is capable of providing a broad spectrum of rations using modernized equipment to quickly serve a large number of personnel in the field. (U.S. Air Force photo by Emily Mifsud)