As severe wildfires continue carving destruction though the Los Angeles area, the US military has deployed aircraft to help civil authorities combat the blazes.
These include a range of fixed- and rotary-wing assets outfitted with specialised firefighting equipment that are supplementing a diverse array of civil firefighting aircraft already on the scene.
Eight Lockheed Martin C-130H/J Hercules transports from the US Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS), have been stationed on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles.
Crews and aircraft from the Guard, a reserve component of the US Air Force, can be called on for natural disaster response, homeland defence and overseas combat missions.
“Having military C-130s that can be quickly converted into air tankers provides a critical surge capability that can be used to bolster wildfire suppression efforts when commercial air tankers are fully committed or not readily available,” the USA’s National Interagency Fire Center (NIAFC) says.
National Guard C-130s were called to service on 10 January by the US Forest Service, which owns the actual MAFFS equipment, according to manufacturer Maffs Corporation. The company says four National Guard airlift wings located in California, Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado are trained to employ the aerial firefighting system.
By 13 January, the MAFFS fleet completed six firefighting sorties, dropping more than 60,500 litres (16,000 USgal) of fire suppressant, the Pentagon said.
Cockpit footage from one mission, released by the Pentagon on 11 January, shows a C-130J from California’s 146th Airlift Wing dropping a line of fire retardant on the Palisades Fire, which as of 12 January had burned more than 9,591 hectares (23,700 acres) and destroyed more than 5,300 structures.
The Hercules’ left-seat lead pilot is seen lining up an approach to a smoke plume on a forested ridgeline. Altitude warning alarms can be heard blaring, urging the pilot to climb, as the four-engined turboprop passes only hundreds of feet above fire trucks and trees.
As the C-130 passes left of a towering smoke column, a loud whoosh can be heard over the engine noise as a load of fire retardant deploys. Several other fire-bombing runs are documented in the footage, featuring similar low-altitude approaches and last-second climbs.
Additional such missions are expected to continue throughout the week, according to the Pentagon. As of 14 January, the two largest fires were still largely out of control, according to California’s Cal Fire agency.
The largest Palisades Fire was only 17% contained, while the smaller but more-destructive Eaton Fire was 35% contained, according to state authorities. Together, the blazes have burned more than 12,000 structures near Los Angeles and killed 23 people thus far.
In addition to C-130s, Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters from Air National Guard units and 10 active-duty rotorcraft of an unspecified type from the US Navy have also been tasked to support firefighting.
These are assisting the primary fleet of civil firefighting aircraft responding to the disaster, which includes De Havilland Canada CL-series water bombers, Dash 8-400 fire-retardant-carrying tankers, BAe 146s and at least one McDonnell Douglas DC-10.
The NIAFC says MAFFS-equipped aircraft can drop 11,350 litres of fire retardant across a 400m line in less than 10s. The roll-on, roll-off system slides into the back of the military aircraft, and retardant is released through a nozzle on the rear left of the fuselage.
The firefighting system is also compatible with Embraer KC-390s, Leonardo C-27Js and Airbus C295s. An improved MAFFS II variant offers a larger-volume retardant tank, onboard compressors for in-flight tank pressurisation, and less aerodynamic drag.
Maffs says the latest system is in service aboard C-130s in the USA, Tunisia and Colombia. The original MAFFS I is operated by Greece, Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Thailand and Morocco.
