Future wars will be defined by a “move or be killed” mindset as soldiers grapple with more forward, transparent and dangerous battlefields. The U.S. Army’s aviation capabilities will need to keep pace.

Today’s Army can’t conduct large-scale, long-range air assault operations with the speed and distance required in modern warfare, Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), said in a December Army News Service article. “What we can do is, we can build the new techniques and the procedures, build the doctrine, build the structures, understand the sustainment in order to be able to do that with a faster, future aircraft,” Sylvia said.

Range—and the ability to refuel—on a battlefield where soldiers expect to operate in small teams far from their headquarters (and for their enemy to be able to easily see and target them) is a key challenge. Currently, the Army rearms and refuels its helicopters using Forward Arming and Refueling Points. It’s a personnel-heavy process.

“So, let’s say for a basic four-point Forward Arming and Refueling Point, with four aircraft to eight aircraft, that’s a platoon of friendlies coming to get supported,” said Maj. Roberto Rivera, supply and logistics officer for the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. “You would send roughly about 12 to 15 folks. That would be about eight to 10 vehicles, your fuel vehicles, your rearming vehicles. Then you would have incorporated … some folks from Delta Company ... the maintainers that load aircraft.”

Battlefield Lifeline

Forward Arming and Refueling Points are a battlefield lifeline for aviators and troops on the ground, but the future fight will demand a more expedited rearming and refueling process. “The current Forward Arming and Refueling Point design, while effective, struggles to keep up with the pace of modern operations,” Col. Ryan Kendall, commander of 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, said in a September Army news article. “We need solutions that enhance our agility, reduce our footprint, and ultimately keep our aviators in the fight.”

As a result, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, which is based in Germany and operates across the European Theater, and the Army Applications Laboratory in Austin, Texas, have teamed up on the Helicopter Expedited Refueling Operations project. Known as the HERO project, the effort aims to streamline the Forward Arming and Refueling Point process.

“We must find and train techniques that streamline the arming and refueling process limiting exposure for Forward Arming and Refueling Point teams who will be routinely asked to provide Forward Arming and Refueling Point capabilities forward of the relative safety that is the aviation tactical assembly area,” Capt. Justin Thomas, distribution platoon leader in the brigade’s Company E, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment (Attack Battalion), said in the September Army news article.

Forward Arming and Refueling Points ensure that Army aircraft can refuel and rearm on combat missions at points “as far forward or widely dispersed as tactically feasible … when the distance covered or endurance requirements exceed normal capabilities of the aircraft,” according to Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 3-04.17: Techniques for Forward Arming and Refueling Points.

Forward Arming and Refueling Points “extend the reach” of Army aviators, Rivera said. “Without the Forward Arming and Refueling Point, the aircraft, the patients and the crews could not get enough distance to meet their goals,” he said. “It gives the aviators, the medevac crews, the utility helicopters and cargo helicopters enough fuel and ammo to get to their target, to come back, and then to return to their home station or where they deploy from.”

During the current rearming process, each service point requires two soldiers to upload and download the weapon systems. The refueling process requires at least three soldiers—one to operate the nozzle, one to remain at the emergency fuel shutoff valve and a third to stand beyond the aircraft’s main rotor disk where the pilot and refueler with the nozzle are visible, according to ATP 3-04.17.

Petroleum supply specialists consider factors like terrain, mission and the types of aircraft to tailor the Forward Arming and Refueling Point. After meetings on mission criteria, petroleum supply specialists “view the terrain” to ensure that conditions are conducive to the mission, “determine how many aircraft can fit” at the location and adjust for the type of aircraft, said Sgt. Anthony Flores, a petroleum supply specialist with 12th Combat Aviation Brigade.

Though Forward Arming and Refueling Points under the current protocol work, they can be time-intensive and personnel-heavy. For example, a Forward Arming and Refueling Point with four service points would require 26 people, including at least 10 petroleum supply specialists, eight to refuel, two to stand by each of the emergency shut-off valves and 16 arming personnel, two at each service point.

Vulnerable Points

Given the time it takes to rearm and refuel, and the number of personnel involved, Forward Arming and Refueling Points are vulnerable to attack. “The most vulnerable time for any type of aircraft is when it’s sitting on the ground in a static location, rotors moving or not,” said Thomas Mead, a program manager for the Army Applications Laboratory. “In the air, I can be targeted by maybe five or six different types of engagements. When I’m on the ground, that just multiplied … because I’ve got ground forces who can attack, … artillery that can hit me [and] surface-to-surface missiles that can hit me.”

When Kendall took command of 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in June 2023, he reflected on Forward Arming and Refueling Points. “[Kendall] said, ‘The same [Forward Arming and Refueling Point] that we’re using now [looks like] the same exact thing that me and Maj. Rivera have seen since the invasion of Iraq,’ ” Rivera said. “I’m very passionate about it, so I said, ‘What do we have to do?’ ”

That conversation led the brigade to reach out to the Army Applications Laboratory, Rivera said. After a month of discussions on possible solutions, “everybody at the HERO team said, ‘This makes sense. Let’s start it,’ ” Rivera said.

Under the HERO project, which began last July, a new pump and a refueling robot are poised to streamline the rearming and refueling process for aviators.

A new pump piece will enable soldiers to refuel three times faster than the current rate of 300 gallons per minute, according to the September Army news article. “The pump piece would let us not use so many hoses, and it would let us … use this type of pump system in our trucks to push fuel out to the aircraft quicker, so it requires less time on the ground, less time on target,” Rivera said.

Additionally, a robot is being developed that would be able to refuel the aircraft without soldiers having to hook things up manually, through autonomous and soldier-operated refueling options, Rivera said. 

The Army Applications Laboratory is due to have fully functioning prototypes of both devices in January 2026. After that, the technology will be distributed to the force through a phased approach around January 2028, Mead said.

Extended Capability

In addition to 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, the HERO project has consulted with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

“[Forward Arming and Refueling Point] capabilities for a long time have been pretty much solely rested in the combat aviation brigade,” said Lt. Col. Greg Sterley, commander of the division’s 96th Aviation Support Battalion. “In the 101st, as we have expanded our capability to get back to large-scale, long-range air assaults, we’ve had to not only rely on the combat aviation brigade, but the rest of the sustainment apparatus inside the division to make that 500-nautical-mile journey a reality.”

During a large-scale, long-range air assault operation last Aug. 13–17, for example, more than 3,000 soldiers from the division’s 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team traveled in 80 aircraft across three states from Fort Campbell to Fort Johnson, Louisiana, for training. “You can compare the [operation’s] distance to other air assaults that have been done in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and we’ve eclipsed those. That distance alone, and the command and control over those distances, certainly sets it apart,” Sterley said. “The amount of people and the amount of classes of supply that come along with that truly does make it historic.”

The HERO project “gives those front-line trace sustainment units the capability to extend the reach of those two air freights to where maybe it gives the Apaches an additional hour on-station time for a ground force, or it gives the Black Hawks an additional turn or two to do some on-call missions for the ground force,” Sterley said.

Mastery of large-scale, long-range air assault operations will be essential for soldiers to effectively compete against global adversaries in future conflicts. “Large-scale, long-range air assault ... delivers one brigade combat team, or roughly 3,000 soldiers and hundreds of pieces of equipment, over 500 miles, in one period of darkness at the time and place of our choosing,” Sylvia said in December during a keynote address at an Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic event on fires. “If you are one of our adversaries, and you’re sitting safely in your capital, you go to bed at night thinking everything is safe and secure. You’ll wake up the next morning, and you’ll have a brigade combat team parked in your backyard. I like to think of that as a nice, nonlethal effect.”

DoD-Wide Effort

As aircraft continue to modernize, adapting fuel and ammunition support remains essential for future conflict, Rivera said. “As our aircraft are being modernized, why can’t our [tools on the] ground [modernize]?” he said. “Without us, there’s just a beautiful piece of machinery sitting there. … What is going to be the requirement? We don’t know. So, we need to be flexible, like they’re flexible with their aircraft designs. Let’s get into designing … the fuel and the ammunition support for these [aircraft].”

The HERO project has piqued the interest of other services and has started to become a Defense Department-wide initiative, said Capt. Lydia LaRue, public affairs officer for 12th Combat Aviation Brigade.

“It started as a good idea from our boss and the Army Applications Laboratory and has now kind of morphed into a DoD-wide initiative,” she said. “The Marine Corps has reached out, the Navy has reached out, so they’re now all a part of the project. This is something that can benefit aviation and logistics across the entire Department of Defense.”