PCADS: A Military Solution to Wildland Firefighting

An aerial firefighting crisis exists in the U.S. Nearly four dozen heavy air-tankers could be called upon to assist firefighters roping in past wildfires. But even as wildfires have increased in size and ferocity, air-tanker numbers have dwindled to a shadow of their former strength. Fire agencies have tried to fill the gap with helicopters and Single Engine Air-Tankers (SEATs), but the speed and retardant capacity of the heavy, fixed-wing air-tankers is sorely missed. Is there any way to increase the firefighting capacity of U.S.