_Del_
I really should change my personal text... Or not.
- Joined
- 4 January 2012
- Messages
- 941
- Reaction score
- 1,010
Just about everything is handled by the State and Federal governments or contractors employed by them. There is not enough money for most municipalities or counties to buy and operate aerial firefighting aircraft.Just throwing ideas out there, for the budget of your local fire department none of said thrown ideas could be developed...
It's very hard for most agencies to beat free or cheap from old DOD stock via the GSA and intra-service transfers. Same way the Coast Guard ended up with the USAF C-27's (coincidentally initially requested by the Forest Service for use as air-tankers before the GAO awarded them to the Coast Guard who took them and then sent some Herks to USFS instead).Arguably though, the use of primarily secondhand aircraft for firefighting has long since reached the point of diminishing returns in those cases where it wasn't a cost fallacy from the outset.
And just like militaries worldwide have learned, it is easier to get pols and bean counters to agree to pay to keep the fleet you already have your hands on flying than it is to fund a brand new fleet acquisition and all the associated costs for logistics, training, transition, etc-- even if ostensibly the new aircraft would cost less over a period of X-amount of years and pay for itself.
And for civilian contractors, who comprise a large percentage of on-call aircraft available, there would need to be a total change to the way contracts are awarded by state and federal agencies to generate capital or a guaranteed pay schedule that would enable them to get credit needed for a new fleet. Or expand the USFS acquisition process and lease the aircraft to contractors who will operate them.
One of the ideas that makes sense to me is pushing H-model Herks out of active and reserve squadrons in favour of new build J-models. Then give those new(-er) H-models to National Guard units, that states can use for any purpose it sees fit to fund (including aerial firefighting with MAFFS, as the Reserve currently does in CA). Eventually, as numbers come to active duty squadrons, it allows pushing older J-models to Guard units and eliminating the H's from the DOD units, where the GAO can parse them out to whoever it sees fit (including USFS).
All the plans that would work need congress to allocate real money instead of punting continually. So we're doomed.