C-130 MAFFS: history and specs

In the early 1970s a number of serious wild fires in Southern California resulting in significant property damage overwhelmed the then existing civilian air tanker flee. The U.S. Congress wanted to address this problem so they asked the U.S. Air Force to serve in a back-up capacity when all civilian air tankers were committed or otherwise unavailable. These Congressional actions resulted in a joint effort between the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve where military C-130’s are fitted with a modular airborne firefighting system (MAFFS).

I will be writing more about the MAFFS unit, as well as the activation, load and deployment of the C-130s in subsequent posts. Briefly, only when all civilian air tankers are either committed to initial attack or extended attack incidents, or are otherwise unavailable can C-130 MAFFS air tankers be requested. A 24-hour lead time is required to outfit the military C-130 with the MAFFS unit before the tanker is deployed to a fire. The C-130 is a transport or cargo plane, and the MAFFS unit fits into the back of the cargo area with two pipes sticking out of the back of the aircraft. The C-130 MAFFS is able to drop up to 3,000 gallons of retardant.

Specifications:
engines: four turboprops (two on each wing)
length (ft): 99
wing span (ft): 133
turn radius (ft): 80
cruise speed (mph): 275
gross weight (lbs): 156,000
range loaded (st. miles) 1,500
contract operating weight: 105,553
retardant load (gallons): 3,000
number of gates: 1