Seven members of the 302 Air Wing based at the U. S. Air Force Reserve’s 302 Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado traveled to Thailand in January, 2010 to train airmen of the Royal Thai Air Force on the C-130 Hercules aerial firefighting tactics and strategies while using the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS). They provided three weeks of expert training that drew on decades of experience in fighting fires from the air. The training included one week of classroom instruction followed by tactical flying and actual MAFFS airdrops.
The United States has four Air National Guard and Air Force reserve bases that each have two MAFFS slip-in units to enable a military C-130 aircraft to serve temporarily as an air tanker if all commercially operated air tankers are committed. The four bases are Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing in Cheyenne, Wyoming; 145th Airlift Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard in Charlotte, N.C.; the 146th Airlift Wing of the California Air National Guard in Port Hueneme, Calif., and the 302nd Airlift Wing with the U.S. Air Force Reserve of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Royal Thai Air Force is using the first generation MAFFS, while the U.S. is transitioning to the newest version, the MAFFS II which we covered HERE and HERE.
More information about the mission to Thailand. More photos.
