A-10 Fire Tanker

Originally posted by Jehosephat
one of the problems with using bigger planes is they have a hard time manuvering around mountains and hilly area were a lot of wildfires are. WIth a terrain follwoing Radar in the A-10 and NoE system that wouldn'e be a problem. Especailly with the Loiter time, and manuverbility.

15,000 lbs of fire retardant (Max external payload) is quite a lot and is about half of what a P2V airtanker can carry.

It is really just a matter how cheap the state can get them and convert them to firefighting

You have obviously never seen an S-3 Viking on a MAD run in rough seas.

The question that I have is about the ariel refilling. What are they going to use for a tanker? How are they going to control the weight and balance of the aircraft while they are filling it? It seems to me that someone just wants to get their hands on a few A-10s for the fun of flying them. Nothing wrong with that. If they get them I envy them.