diff --git a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/templates/deployment.yaml b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/templates/deployment.yaml
index 5b9e9d2..626dc71 100644
--- a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@
           echo "*** actual launch of AAI Resources"
           /bin/bash /opt/app/aai-resources/docker-entrypoint.sh
         env:
+        {{- if .Values.config.env }}
+        {{- range $key,$value := .Values.config.env }}
+        - name: {{ $key | upper | quote}}
+          value: {{ $value | quote}}
+        {{- end }}
+        {{- end }}
         - name: LOCAL_USER_ID
           value: {{ .Values.global.config.userId | quote }}
         - name: LOCAL_GROUP_ID
diff --git a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/values.yaml b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/values.yaml
index e5cc716..7615f4b 100644
--- a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/values.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-resources/values.yaml
@@ -175,6 +175,12 @@
     # Specifies if the bulk can be override and if it can the value
     override: false
 
+  # environment variables added to the launch of the image in deployment
+  env:
+    MIN_HEAP_SIZE: "512m"
+    MAX_HEAP_SIZE: "1024m"
+    MAX_METASPACE_SIZE: "512m"
+
 nodeSelector: {}
 
 affinity: {}
diff --git a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/templates/deployment.yaml b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/templates/deployment.yaml
index 6d12f08..9a61841 100644
--- a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -154,6 +154,12 @@
           echo "*** actual launch of AAI Resources"
           /bin/bash /opt/app/aai-traversal/docker-entrypoint.sh
         env:
+        {{- if .Values.config.env }}
+        {{- range $key,$value := .Values.config.env }}
+        - name: {{ $key | upper | quote}}
+          value: {{ $value | quote}}
+        {{- end }}
+        {{- end }}
         - name: DISABLE_UPDATE_QUERY
           value: {{ .Values.config.disableUpdateQuery | quote }}
         - name: LOCAL_USER_ID
diff --git a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/values.yaml b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/values.yaml
index 349fe77..6230576 100644
--- a/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/values.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/aai/components/aai-traversal/values.yaml
@@ -166,6 +166,12 @@
     # Specifies how long should it wait before timing out the REST request
     limit: 180000
 
+  # environment variables added to the launch of the image in deployment
+  env:
+    MIN_HEAP_SIZE: "512m"
+    MAX_HEAP_SIZE: "1024m"
+    MAX_METASPACE_SIZE: "512m"
+
   # Disables the updateQueryData script to run as part of traversal
   disableUpdateQuery: true