MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, GA. -- Loadmasters assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing's 39th Rescue Squadron, which operates HC-130J Combat King II aircraft, conducted training with 23rd Logistics Readiness Squadron forward arming and refueling point specialists to refine FARP procedures on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, on April 25.
FARP provides the fuel necessary for helicopter and fixed-wing operations to continue their mission while reducing the vulnerability of forward deployed forces by taking fuel from the HC-130J Combat King II aircraft and passing it into another airframe on the ground using a system of hoses. The ability to refuel aircraft in this manner at forward airfields and in austere environments by conducting FARP to refuel aircraft is a specialty that furthers the 920th Rescue Wing's worldwide agile combat employment.
The operational concept driving worldwide agile combat employment is to leverage networks of air bases, multi-capable Airmen, and airlift to rapidly deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability throughout a theater. Paired with aircraft fueling, arming and limited maintenance activities, ACE expands the number of bases from which the Air Force generates combat sorties.
The HC-130J’s mission as the only dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform in the Air Force inventory is to rapidly deploy to execute combatant-commander directed recovery operations to austere airfields and denied territory for expeditionary, all weather personnel recovery operations to include airdrop, air land, helicopter air-to-air refueling, and forward area ground refueling missions. The variety of missions that the HC-130J aircraft can be used for requires its loadmasters be ready to perform a variety of tasks every time the aircraft takes off.