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U.S. Army Explores Air Refueling for Cheyenne II MV-75 Aircraft
The U.S. Army is considering adding air refueling capabilities to its Cheyenne II MV-75 tiltrotor fleet. A senior Army aviation official stated that the service lacks organic refueling assets and is exploring solutions. The aircraft, produced by Bell, includes design options for refueling kits primarily for special operations use.
Apr 17, 12:45 PM·1m read1 source
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U.S. Army announced on April 17, 2026, that its next-generation multi-role vertical lift aircraft, the MV-75 Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, will be named Cheyenne II.
An Army official noted that the Army is exploring the option of adding a refueling kit similar to those designed for variants used by Special Operations Command.
The MV-75 was designed with a removable refueling kit option, mainly for special operations, according to Bell. The official explained that one of the “most challenging tasks” for Army special operation aviators is helicopter aerial refueling. Oftentimes people assume the challenge is just with training aviators how do the refueling, which is a part of the issue, but the lack of an “asset” that does the refueling is the main issue.
“We don’t have those organic to the Army. So I think we need to solve our own problems, and think about how do we do our own, let’s call it logistical resupply in the air, of an MV-75,” the official said, adding that a fixed-wing option would be the best solution for the refueling, since traditional rotorcraft “certainly” couldn’t do the job.
“We don’t have a requirement written right now, but I’ve talked with Army leaders,” the official added. Though the official did not give exact details on what the refueling capability could look like, Bell released a video Wednesday of an MV-75 seemingly being refueled by the Boeing-made MQ-25 Stingray.
The Stingray is slated to be the Navy’s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft that’s central goal is for unmanned refueling. Though the official did not explicitly call out the Stingray, the official did say during a keynote address Wednesday when introducing the new name of the MV-75 that the Navy has “got some pretty good unmanned ideas there, if you want to kind of follow where we’re going” while talking about air refueling.
