Colorado Senator Mark Udall continues to push the U.S. Forest Service and now the Air Force to expedite the retrofitting of the seven C-130Hs that will be used as air tankers. The National Defense Authorization Act for 2014 that was passed in December required that the aircraft be transferred to the Air Force where they will be updated with new wing boxes as needed and receive retardant tank systems. After the conversions they will be owned by the U.S. Forest Service, but operated and maintained by private contractors while being used to help suppress wildfires.
Senator Udall wrote letters to the USFS and the Air Force “requesting assistance in expediting the necessary upgrades to the C-130H aircraft”. He also asked for reports that describe the “expected timeline for the completion of the upgrades to these C-130H aircraft and identification of possible issues that could delay this timeline”.