Forward Arming and Refueling Base for 100-250 Chopper and Drone Flights for Rescue Operations

Videos describe the forward air base built inside of Iran and pictures of the forward airbase after it was used for 2 days and then abandoned. Rescued Airman taken back by little bird choppers back the base. 100+ US military personal were inside iran.

FARP stands for Forward Arming and Refueling Point (also sometimes called Forward Area Refueling Point). It is a NATO term for a temporary, austere facility—typically set up in remote, forward, or hostile areas—where aircraft (primarily helicopters, but also certain fixed-wing types like special operations C-130 variants) can quickly refuel and rearm closer to the area of operations than a main base.

FARPs are mobile/expedient, can support rotary- or fixed-wing aircraft, and vary in size and configuration ( active, silent, jump, or rolling) based on mission needs, aircraft numbers, and terrain. They are not full forward operating bases but refueling/arming hubs, often using collapsible bladders, pumps, trucks, or rapid systems like FARE/AAFARS.

An improvised/austere airfield/FARP established at an abandoned airport south of Isfahan in a mountainous region. It has been geolocated to just south of Isfahan (approximate coordinates referenced in open-source analysis: 32.258394, 51.901927). This placed it deep inside Iran (200 miles from the coastline, ~230 miles from a land border), near strategic Iranian sites including missile/army bases, nuclear facilities, and an F-14 airbase.

It served as a forward hub and FARP for the CSAR mission. U.S. special operations forces (reportedly involving hundreds of personnel and dozens of aircraft overall) used it for refueling, arming, and operations to extract the downed WSO (a high-ranking colonel who evaded capture for ~36 hours after parachuting into a forested/mountainous area). Special operations C-130 variants (MC-130J Commando IIs) landed there to support the rescue force, along with Night Stalker MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird helicopters from the 160th SOAR.

Two MC-130J aircraft landed successfully but became stuck in sand/mud and could not depart. U.S. forces destroyed them in place (demolished/blown up and burned) to prevent capture. Wreckage also includes at least two (reports vary: two to four) burned-out MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird helicopters.

Details about the rescue op for the U.S. Weapon Systems Officer, via a U.S. military official:

"The mountain top area on the left is where the WSO was hiding (he ejected 5ish miles northwest of there). The right area is the makeshift landing strip where they landed 2 C-130s… pic.twitter.com/iYJkzd5eTP

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) April 5, 2026

The right area is the makeshift landing strip where they landed 2 C-130s and had 4 MH-6 Little Birds. “One Little Bird flew to that mountain top area and rescued the WSO and brought him back to the landing strip. And of course the two C-130s’ nose gears got stuck in the dirt. So after a few hours they had to bring in three AFSOC Dash-8s to fly out the rescued WSO and the 100 or so personnel involved in the op.” 1/2

Two MC-130J Commando IIs would deliver a substantial but mission-dependent amount of fuel and gear to the FARP. Each MC-130J has an internal fuel capacity of approximately 61,360 lbs (roughly 9,150–9,200 US gallons of JP-8 jet fuel, at ~6.7 lbs/gallon). They also have a payload capacity of up to ~37,000–42,000 lbs for cargo, personnel, additional bladders/palletized fuel tanks, ammunition, or special operations gear.

The aircraft would not fly with maximum everything due to weight/range trade-offs and the need to reserve fuel for the flight to the site (deep inside Iran, likely 500–1,000+ nautical miles one-way from a staging base or carrier group). They would arrive with a large portion of fuel remaining for ground offload plus cargo. The MC-130J supports rapid ground refueling (up to ~600 gallons per minute in “hotel mode,” where engines run but props are slowed/feathered to reduce blast).

Operations and flights supported for Little Birds from that FARP

The MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird (Night Stalkers) has internal fuel capacity of about 62 US gallons (~403–415 lbs).
They have a ~232 nautical miles range.
They could fly for ~2–3 hours.

With the fuel from two MC-130Js, this could theoretically support 150–250+ full internal tank refills across a small flight of Little Birds.

Small drones would use no fuel except for generators to recharge electric drones and ~1–5 gallons per hour (fuel-powered small UAVs).

Three smaller planes were sent to recover all of the people after the wheels of the MC-130Js got stuck parked in the sand.