CAL FIRE hopes to get the seven HC-130H’s the Forest Service turned down

Tanker 116 Fresno

Above: Tanker 116, an HC-130H, on final approach at Fresno, July 22, 2017. Photo by L.S. Braun.

(Originally published at 2 p.m. PDT July 267, 2018)

Now that the U.S. Forest Service has decided that they do not want the seven HC-130H aircraft that were in the process of being transferred from the Coast Guard to the Forest Service, the door has opened for Plan B for those aircraft.

This story began in 2013 when Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act directing that the Coast Guard transfer the planes and that the Air Force would arrange to take care the backlog of maintenance and the work needed to turn them into air tankers, appropriating up to $130 million to complete the work. At least two of the planes were close to completion with the exception of installing a retardant delivery system. Tankers 116 and 118 have been seen occasionally working on fires using a borrowed Modular Airborne FireFighting System in lieu of a permanent tank.

CAL FIRE has been considering the long range plans for their fixed wing fleet for a while. The 1,200-gallon S2T’s are not getting any younger and in recent years the agency has been supplementing those 23 air tankers with large and very large air tankers on a call when needed and exclusive use basis. At various times CAL FIRE has used BAe-146’s, DC-10’s, the 747 Supertanker and other tankers, all holding from 3,000 to 19,200 gallons. CAL FIRE was an innovator, being the first to contract for the Very Large DC-10 and 747 air tankers.

CAL FIRE Chief Ken Pimlott announced in an email July 26 that the agency is hoping to obtain the seven HC-130H’s:

…Senator Feinstein and her staff have worked tirelessly to seek amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that authorize the transfer of the seven C-130H air frames to the State of California. This amended language will be voted on by Congress in the next week.

If approved, there are a number of steps which must take place before California, and ultimately CAL FIRE, can take possession of these aircraft. Additionally, they must be developed into firefighting air tankers, which will require funding through future budget processes. The number of aircraft to be built and the ultimate base locations have yet to be determined, and may take several years to implement. However, the acquisition of these aircraft are an important step forward in bolstering our capacity to address the State’s wildfire risk.

The U.S. House and the Senate are considering different versions of the National Defense Authorization Act referred to by Chief Pimlott. The conference committee charged with modifying and merging the versions agreed to require the Air Force to complete the conversions of the seven aircraft and give them to the state of California.

Here is what they came up with, in Congress-speak:

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 1075) that would amend section 1098 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66) to relieve the Air Force from the mandate to modify United States Coast Guard (USCG) HC-130H aircraft with firefighting capabilities for use by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The Senate amendment contained no similar provision. The Senate recedes with an amendment that would maintain the mandate for the Air Force to modify the USCG HC-130H aircraft, but designate the state of California as the ultimate recipient of the aircraft, vice the USFS.

The amended bill still has to be voted on and approved by the Senate and the House and then signed by the President, which could happen as soon as next week.

Coast Guard/Forest Service air tanker is back in the air

Michael Piper got these photos of Air Tanker 118 apparently off the television as one of the HC-130H air tankers was working the County Fire west of Sacramento. Click on the photos a couple of times to see larger versions.

After Congress authorized $130 million to transfer seven U.S. Coast Guard HC-130H aircraft to the U.S. Forest Service to be converted to air tankers, much work was done to bring maintenance up to date, replace wing boxes, and issue contracts to private companies for regular maintenance and operation. But a few months ago the current administration announced they plan to abandon the project.

This may be the last year we see any of them fighting fire. Then I guess they’ll go to the boneyard in good shape, some with new wing boxes. There’s a rumor that CAL FIRE is considering  upgrading from their 1,200-gallon S-2T air tankers to a version of the C-130 which carries at least 3,000 gallons. Maybe they will get their hands on them.

Over the last three years one has been seen occasionally over fires, using a borrowed MAFFS slip-in tank system. As far as I know, no permanent retardant systems have been installed in any of the seven HC-130H aircraft.

Air Tanker 116 HC-130H retardant
File photo of Air Tanker 116, an HC-130H, spraying retardant on a fire near Phoenix, June 22, 2017. Fox 20 Phoenix.

Forest Service contracts for aircraft onboarding analysis

solicitation air tanker support

When we saw the solicitation above and read the detailed description, we thought the U.S. Forest Service was planning to add more air tankers to their fleet or resurrect the Coast Guard HC-130H program, but that turned out to not be the case.

The solicitation seeks to hire seven contract personnel, with most of them being required to work out of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It closed April 10 after being open for only about two weeks.

Their tasks will include:

  • Program and project management support;
  • Development of operations and management strategy;
  • Acquisition program support for aviation support contracts;
  • Technology insertion for aviation assets and facilities;
  • Analysis and implementation of supportability services for airframe, engine, and avionics.
  • Economic analysis for technology insertion and transformation efforts;
  • Safety program support for aviation and ground operations.

In February the Administration announced their desire to abandon the acquisition and conversion of seven Coast Guard HC-130H’s into firefighting air tankers after spending tens of millions on the project. They intend to operate one this year that is partially complete, borrowing a slip-in MAFFS retardant system.

Air Tanker 116 HC-130H retardant
File photo of Air Tanker 116, an HC-130H, using a MAFFS unit to spray retardant on a fire near Phoenix, June 22, 2017. Fox 20 Phoenix.

We asked Forest Service Public Affairs Specialist Jennifer Jones for a plain text translation of the language in the solicitation:

This solicitation is for engineering services needed for the USDA Forest Service to have one HC-130H equipped with a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) available to fly wildfire suppressions this year (2018) as in 2015 and 2017. The current contract for these services expires May 31st.

Ms. Jones supplied an update on the future of the HC-130H air tanker program:

Section 1098(a) of the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the transfer of seven HC-130H aircraft to the USDA Forest Service for use as Airtankers in wildfire suppression. Based on recent increased private sector investment in Next Generation Airtankers, the agency has determined that government-owned Airtankers are no longer necessary since private industry is capable of fulfilling the agency’s required Airtanker needs. As such, the President’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget notes that the USDA Forest Service will seek Congressional support to terminate the NDAA provisions pertaining to agency-owned HC-130H aircraft. Any changes or modifications to these provisions will require Congressional action.

So apparently this contract for seven people mostly working out of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, will be to support one aircraft. If, however, unlike Ms. Jones’ description, they could perform these services for the entire USFS Fire and Aviation Management aircraft fleet, including contracting, it could be a worthwhile investment.

We are reminded that in June, 2015, 522 days after the USFS HC-130H acquisition began, they came to a conclusion, according to a Briefing Paper. Here is a quote from the paper:

This is a new program for the Forest Service, one that we have never managed before (We don’t know what we don’t know).

After almost four years, much work still needs to be done on the Coast Guard/USFS HC-130’s

tanker 118

Above: Tanker 118 at McClellan Air Field, May 3, 2017. Photo by John Vogel.

This is the first photo we have seen showing U.S. Forest Service Air Tanker 118 with its latest paint job. The USFS plan is to have two of the HC-130H’s at McClellan Air Field at Sacramento (the other is T-116) while the additional five are going through heavy maintenance and retardant tank installation.  One is to be actively used as an air tanker while the second is for training, or filling in while the other is down for routine maintenance. As far as I know they are sharing just one of the slip-in MAFFS II retardant delivery units that convert a C-130 into an air tanker. It only takes a few hours to install one of the systems.

The photo below shows T-118 in 2015. Both versions show the crude looking “118” on the tail that detracts from the otherwise very acceptable new paint design. That scheme, approved in 2014, also used the crude font for the number. In addition to flying with the Coast Guard, aircraft #1721 also served with the Air Force and the Navy.

T-110 HC-130H air tanker
Tanker 118, an HC-130H, at McClellan Airport. Photo by Jon Wright, July 25, 2015.

The Air Force, responsible for converting the Coast Guard HC-130H’s into air tankers, has been dithering for years about installing the permanent internal gravity-powered retardant delivery systems in the seven aircraft that are being transferred to the USFS. Most of the ships also need program depot maintenance including new wing boxes. That process began in 2013 when Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act directing that the Air Force arrange to take care of all of the maintenance and conversion work needed on the planes. Unfortunately, Congress did not give the Air Force a required completion date.

It is interesting that private companies like Aero-Flite, 10 Tanker, Neptune, and Coulson can turn an aircraft into an air tanker in less than a year, but the work on these HC-130H’s is not expected to be complete until the end of this decade, about seven years after it started. And not a single one is finished, four years after it began.

These aircraft that the Coast Guard was happy to unload, are not getting any younger while the Air Force vacillates.  Adding another seven years while they are going through the conversions means that Tankers 116 and 118 will be 36 and 32 years old, respectively, in 2020.

Tanker 116 in Boise

Air Tanker 116

We shot this photo of U.S. Forest Service air tanker 116, an HC-130H, in Boise on April 20. It was there to deliver the MAFFS unit it has been using so that the Reno National Guard folks can train with it and the other one normally assigned to Reno. After the training the unit will be retrieved by T-116 and hauled back to McClellan in California where that tanker is based.

Two C-130’s and their crews from each of four military bases — Channel Islands, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, and Reno — are going through their annual training and recertification in Boise this week.

Tanker 116 at Mather

Tanker 116 Mather California

Jon Wright took this photo of Air Tanker 116, which is one of the first of the seven HC-130H aircraft the U.S. Forest Service acquired from the U.S. Coast Guard to be converted to an air tanker.

Mr. Wright said it spent several hours on February 27 and 28 conducting approaches at Mather Airport east of Sacramento.