The fourth takeaway is that innovative delivery solutions can be worked going forward. In effect, they are working a more disciplined cycle of arrival and departure from FARPs.Īnd the Marines are exercising ways to bring in a FARP support team in a single aircraft to further the logistical footprint and to provide for more rapid engagement and disengagement as well. The effort to speed up the creation and withdrawal from FARPs is a task being worked by the Marines at MAWTS-1 as well. They have used helos and KC-130Js to drop pallets of fuel as one solution to this problem. To speed up the process, the Marines are experimenting with more disposable supply containers to provide for enhanced speed of movement among FARPs within an extended battlespace. The third takeaway was that even with a more mobile and agile pumping solution, there remains the basic challenge of the weight of fuel as a commodity.Ī gallon of gas is about 6.7 pounds and when aggregating enough fuel at a FARP, the challenge is how to get adequate supplies to a FARP for its mission to be successful. “It effectively eliminates the complications of embarkation and transportation of gear to the landing zone.” They are testing a mobile refueling asset called TAGRS or a Tactical Aviation Ground Refueling system.Īs noted in the discussion of TAGRS at the end of this article: “The TAGRS and its operators are capable of being air-inserted making the asset expeditionary. Obviously, this solution is too limiting so they are working a new solution set. This legacy kit limits mobility as it is very heavy and requires the use of several hoses and fuel separators. What is being worked now at MAWTS-1 is a much mobile solution set.Ĭurrently, they are working with a system whose provenance goes back to the 1950s and is a helicopter expeditionary refueling system or HERS system. Obviously, that is not a solution for Pacific operations. In the land wars, the basic fuel supply was being carried by a fuel truck to the FARP location. The second takeway is that the concept remains the same but the tools to do the concept are changing.Ĭlearly, one example is the nature of the fuel containers being used. It is about providing capability for crew rest, resupply and repair to some extent. The first takeaway is that when one is referring to a FARP, it is about an ability to provide a node which can refuel and rearm aircraft.īut it is more than that. There were a number of takeaways from that conversation which provide an understanding of the Marines are working their way ahead currently with regard to the FARP contribution to distributed operations. In that interview with Maj Steve Bancroft, Aviation Ground Support (AGS) Department Head, MAWTS-1, MCAS Yuma, we discussed the way ahead on FARPs enabled by TAGR and CH-53Ks. In an interview earlier this summer with a senior MAWTS-1 officer, we discussed the coming of TAGRS and of the CH-53K to the Marine Corps and how these new capabilities would allow for enhanced FARP capabilities and expeditionary basing support. The King Stallion is the most powerful aircraft in the Department of Defense, providing unmatched heavy-lift capability to the Marine Corps. Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, employ a tactical aviation ground refueling system (TAGRS) while conducting expeditionary advanced base operations in support of a CH-53K King Stallion training evolution at a forward arming refueling point at Yuma Proving Grounds Range, Ariz., July 15, 2020. The two together provide new capabilities for forward refueling points or for expeditionary basing. Recently, the Marines tested their new forward base refueling system with the CH-53K.
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