The Dream of Airborne Rearmament: A New Goal for the U.S. Air Force
While aerial refueling has become a well-honed capability for many air forces around the world, growing international tensions are driving the search for a new strategic edge.
The U.S. Air Force and NATO recognize that any potential conflict with Russia or China would demand sustained air superiority—an objective that requires continuous, rapid operations to keep fighter jets airborne.
Within this framework, the concept of the “Forward Arming and Refueling Point” (FARP) has emerged as a new strategy, according to The National Interest.
Unlike in-flight refueling—a practice the U.S. military has perfected for decades—rearming aircraft in mid-air remains impossible. Instead, the concept envisions the establishment of temporary points close to the battlefield, where aircraft can land on “makeshift runways or highways” to be quickly resupplied with fuel and munitions before rejoining the fight.
This approach complicates enemy efforts to anticipate aircraft positions or target them, thereby strengthening the element of surprise.
Recently, the U.S. Air National Guard tested this idea during “Distributed Agile Combat Employment” drills.
In these exercises, two C-130 transport planes loaded with fuel and ammunition supported F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters and F-15 Eagles, with the aim of rearming and relaunching them into combat in under an hour.
Lieutenant Colonel Doug Pharaoh, commander of the 103rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, stated that the drills “embody the very essence of agile combat employment, granting us unprecedented flexibility to generate lethal airpower.”
Colonel Michael Blair, commander of the 158th Fighter Wing, added: “In vast and contested theaters of operation, speed and agility are decisive. Distributed agile combat employment gives us the ability to project our power rapidly, wherever it is needed.”
If the FARP concept is successfully implemented, it could enable “a greater number of sorties with the same fleet size,” potentially giving the United States and NATO a qualitative edge against advanced adversaries such as Russia or China.
