The Air Operations Centre of Excellence, located in Lyon, France, is a NATO-accredited institution dedicated to strengthening Allied and Partner air operations. It focuses on developing airpower capabilities through doctrine, training, experimentation, and operational analysis. Drawing on a multinational team of experts, the Centre provides critical support in planning and managing Air Command and Control systems, ensuring that NATO’s air operations remain effective, adaptive, and interoperable.
In 2022, the NATO-accredited Air Operations Centre of Excellence launched an internal innovation hub known as IC2ARE (Innovation dans le C2 de l’armée de l’AIR et de l’Espace). Created to fast-track promising ideas in the fields of Air Operations and Air Command and Control, IC2ARE serves to coordinate and manage projects and to act as an incubator for forward-thinking solutions that address real-world operational challenges. Among the four projects currently under development, ALEXO (Air to Air Refuelling Live Elaboration for eXercise and Operations) stands out for its potential to reshape how air-to-air refuelling is planned and managed across NATO operations.
Why ALEXO Was Needed
The idea for ALEXO originated from lessons learned by the French Air and Space Force during real-world missions. Several critical challenges were identified:
- Air-to-air refuelling planning is still done manually, which slows down operations and limits efficiency under time pressure
- The process is complex and relies heavily on a small pool of skilled personnel
- Refuelling resources are limited, making optimal planning essential
- Faster air campaign planning at every level is becoming a necessity
In response, the Air Operations Centre of Excellence, along with the French Air Defence and Air Operations Command and the French Strategic Air Force Command, collaborated to design a smarter, more adaptable system: a tool that could schedule and manage air-to-air refuelling activities more efficiently and with fewer human resources.
What ALEXO Does
The concept for ALEXO emerged in 2022, with major development milestones reached in 2024, all focused on improving the speed, adaptability, and efficiency of air refuelling planning. It is designed to:
- Align air-to-air refuelling planning with the commander’s operational priorities;
- Adapt in real time to unexpected events such as weather or mission changes;
- Schedule daily refuelling operations across different tanker aircraft (C-135FR, MRTT, A400M, KC-130J) quickly and with minimal staff input;
- Maximize efficiency by reducing flight time, increasing usable refuelling slots, and delivering more fuel per sortie.
Testing and Future Use
A prototype of ALEXO was developed in 2024 and tested during two major French military exercises (AIREX and BELHARRA), as well as the NATO exercise CWIX. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive: users praised the tool’s ability to meet operational demands and improve planning speed and flexibility.
Next steps include national validation and formal approval for broader deployment. If endorsed, the Air Operations Centre of Excellence aims to offer ALEXO to NATO Allies as a shared capability, especially in missions where speed, resilience, and interoperability are key.
Why It Matters
Until now, no tool has automated, or even partially digitized, air-to-air refuelling scheduling within NATO. ALEXO fills that gap. It reduces workload, speeds up mission readiness, and enables better use of limited resources. In high-tempo air campaigns, where every minute counts, that can make a critical difference.