Forward operating site

{{short description|Type of United States military facility}}

{{war}}

A forward operating site (FOS) or forward operating location (FOL) is a U.S. military term for facilities, defined as "a scalable, 'warm' facility that can support sustained operations, but with only a small permanent presence of support or contractor personnel as opposed to a FOB or MOB. A FOS will host occasional rotational forces and many contain pre-positioned equipment."{{cite web

|title=Strategic Theater Transformation

|url=http://www.eucom.mil/english/Transformation/Transform_Blue.asp

|date=2005-01-14

|publisher=United States European Command

|access-date=2007-02-07

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204141322/http://www.eucom.mil/english/Transformation/Transform_Blue.asp

|archive-date=2007-02-04

|url-status=dead

}} These sites were established as the Pentagon began to address regional threats primarily in Africa and Latin America following its 2004 global posture review.{{cite news|url=http://www.eucom.mil/media-library/article/21826/US-European-Command-Statement-Following-President|title=U.S. European Command Statement Following President Bush's Remarks Addressing Global Posture|date=2004-08-16|publisher=United States European Command|access-date=2007-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331030421/http://www.eucom.mil/media-library/article/21826/US-European-Command-Statement-Following-President|archive-date=2017-03-31|url-status=dead}}

An FOS is differentiated from a cooperative security location (CSL) with no permanent force or contractor personnel, or a forward operating base (FOB) and main operating base (MOB), with a large force and a well-defended site.