page_title: Lockheed C-130 Hercules
section_title: Aerial Firefighting
hierarchical_section_title: Lockheed C-130 Hercules / Operational history / Aerial Firefighting
caption_attribution_description: English: A C-130 firefighting, cropped/rotated/denoised from 031028-F-6278K-164 A US Air Force (USAF) C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft rigged with a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) from the 146th Airlift Wing (AW), Channel Islands Air National Guard Station (ANGS), makes a Phoschek fire retardant drop on the Simi Fire in Southern California (CA).
context_page_description: The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship, for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol, and aerial firefighting. It is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. More than 40 variants of the Hercules, including civilian versions marketed as the Lockheed L-100, operate in more than 60 nations.
  The C-130 entered service with the U.S. in 1956, followed by Australia and many other nations. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in numerous military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. In 2007, the C-130 became the fifth aircraft to mark 50 years of continuous service with its original primary customer, which for the C-130 is the United States Air Force.
context_section_description: In the early 1970s Congress created the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) which is a joint operation between The U.S. Forest Service who supply the systems and the Department of Defense who supply the C-130 aircraft.  The roll-on/roll-off systems allow existing aircraft to be temporarily converted into a 3,000-gallon airtanker for fighting wildfires when demand exceeds the supply of privately contracted and publicly available airtankers.
  In the late 1980s, 22 retired USAF C-130As were removed from storage and transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, which then transferred them to six private companies to be converted into air tankers. One of these C-130s crashed in June 2002 while operating the Retardant Aerial Delivery System (RADS) near Walker, CA. The crash was attributed to wing separation caused by fatigue stress cracking and contributed to the grounding of the entire large aircraft fleet. After and extensive review, US Forest Service and The Bureau of Land Management declined to renew the leases on nine C-130A over concerns about the age of the aircraft, which had been in service since the 1950s, and their ability to handle the forces generated by aerial firefighting.
  More recently, an updated Retardant Aerial Delivery System known as RADS XL was developed by Coulson Aviation USA. That system consists of a C-130H/Q retrofitted with an in-floor discharge system, combined with a removable 3,500- or 4,000-gallon water tank. The combined system is FAA certified.
  On January 22, 2020, Coulson's Tanker 134, an EC-130Q registered N134CG, crashed during aerial firefighting operations in New South Wales, Australia, killing all three crew members. The aircraft had taken off out of RAAF Base Richmond, and was supporting firefighting operations during Australia's unprecedented 2019–20 fire season.
caption: A C-130E fitted with a MAFFS-1 dropping fire retardant
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