A U.S. Representative is getting a lot a publicity by attaching an amendment to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that he says would “assess opportunities to expand coverage of MAFFS units in the western United States.”
MAFFS are Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems that can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft, enabling them to temporarily serve as air tankers dropping up to 3,000 gallons of retardant of wildfires. The U.S. Forest Service owns and maintains eight MAFFS units that are located at four military bases in California, Wyoming, Colorado, and North Carolina. Each base can activate two aircraft if requested by the U.S. Forest Service during a period when there is a shortage of contracted air tankers.
Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke introduced the amendment that was passed by the House Armed Service Committee. The next step is a vote by the full House. The amendment basically says a report must be written:
…Therefore, the committee directs the Secretary of the Air Force to prepare a brief to the House Committee on Armed Services by September 1, 2015 that assess the locations of C-130 MAFFS units. Such a report should provide a listing of the current United States Air Force units, their utilization rates, and a future force allocation determination that most efficiently utilizes the MAFFS units. This report shall specifically assess opportunities to expand coverage of MAFFS units in the western United States.
The Department of Defense has said in the past that they have no interest in providing more than eight MAFFS aircraft and crews.
When the MAFFS are activated by the USFS they are positioned where they are needed, and can be moved around depending on the wildfire activity. For example, if fires are occurring in Idaho and western Montana, they may be based in Boise. If it is busy in New Mexico, they would most likely be found at Albuquerque.
So “assessing the locations” of these very mobile units appears to have little value.
2 Comments
Congressman Zinke is simply working a political angle. The Montana Air National Guard has been knocked around in the most recent rounds of the DoD’s base realignments, going from F-16’s to F-15’s and now C-130’s. Including language in his amendment that says, “This report shall specifically assess opportunities to expand coverage of MAFFS units in the western United States” is there get the Air Force to put on public record that the unit in Great Falls would be well suited geographically for additional MAFFS units. Not likely anything will ever come of it. This is just a stab in the dark by the Congressman to try to position the MTANG more favorably should another BRAC happen in the future.
What Jay said.
The is zero guarantee of the long term operation of the MTANG OR Malmstrom AFB regardless of what the citizens of Great Falls say.
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