Help equip the heros as we are about to enter 2020. These fires started in August (still in our winter '19). So what are we going to do about it? I propose global best practice as the Fires around the earth are getting larger, as such we need to meet this brains and brawn. I hope with your signature we can effect change quickly! Please read on to understand more. Australia has a fleet of 12 Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules in the Australian Airforce. It is admirable that at moments notice our Defence Force is prepared to use these assets to the aid of persons both in our Region and Globally.
America which is a similar size geographically has at least 8 of these planes in their Defence Force that has the ability to be quickly converted from standard Cargo Planes to a Large Air Tankers (LAT). This quick & temporary conversion allows this very useful aircraft to become a Fire Fighting Superweapon! It is done with an off the shelf product called MAFFS (Modular Airborne Fire Fighter System) or MAFFS II, which is the newer version.
With theses fires still burning strong in NSW & QLD, & still strong in our minds from Victoria, I can only think how can we get all these levels of government to work together & develop this proactive National Defence resource?
This capability upgrade to both the Royal Australian Air Force & Australian Defence Force more broadly, should be welcomed & the C-130’s have many other planes that could be tasked to cover their duties such as the C-17 & C27.
These National Assets are based out of Richmond Airbase just outside of Sydney and less than two hours flight time from just about anywhere in the country, but can operate locally on very short notice and operate just about anywhere for refill of both water or retardant, even on narrow & unsealed runways and have been known to even do beach landings.
It is time to acknowledge that States & Territories should have this capability to draw on, as these #Superfires need a larger response than just what each state has sat on standby for the year. NSW ownes one LAT (Large Air Tanker), which although very helpful to NSW, would be magnificent if backed up by x8 C130’s temporarily equipped with similar capabilities.
It is time to reflect & defend Australians against this domestic super threat to homes, families, schools, property, business, livelihoods, community assets, volunteers & paid staff, pets, the Economy & environment just to name a few.
The only recent operations for the C130 listed on the Airforce website include:
• Op Queensland Flood Assist (2011);
• Op Philippines Assist (2013); and
• Op OKRA (2014), where C-130Js were used to airdrop humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.
Ready to sign? http://chng.it/56KJwwgH
So what is a MAFFS II? Its a device that neatly & quickly slides into the back of the C-130 Aircraft in around 60 minutes & turns it into a tool that can drop +13600L of water or retardant either in one go or with many smaller programmed drops, and the more advanced systems are going to be using GPS to precisely drop it like we would do with weapons, equipment or humanitarian aid. Unlike the gravity systems currently in use, MAFFS can also adjust the saturation from light but long loads to or heavier and shorter runs. Amazingly it’s capacity is around 27 times more than the small helicopters bucket payload of around 500L and it can refill in around 12minutes and re pressurises on the way back to the fire. These aircraft compound in efficiency, so 8 of these can effectively spread kilometres of retardant to take on these #SuperFires as done in California. As a nation we could proactively make a real difference to these effected communities & backup the staff & volunteers on the front lines. Whilst possibly changing real peoples lives in the future. This is a KNOWN DOMESTIC THREAT to Australians, that we cant defend against unless tooled appropriately & as we all know from these fires that they burn for months on end & #supercharge during weather events.
I call on Scott Morrison (ScoMo) to make a generational change. That would only take Australia’s C-130 out of their normal standby for a minimal amount of time, whilst delivering better value to ordinary Australians. It would be life-changing for the bush & those metro people living on the every increasing fringe, by having this capability brought to the Australian People. It would help keep Highways & Roads open and the country moving, whilst protecting ordinary Australians. This would quickly supplement the State’s & Territory’s resources with not even a dent into the National budget. In the early stages of a Fire, helping everyone get & stay on top of the situation crucial. (ready to sign yet: http://chng.it/56KJwwgH
If one thing is certain, just as much as tax & changing Prime Ministers, is that every year we are relying more and more on volunteers, asking them to be away from their families & business’, longer at a cost to the economy both small and large business', to fight these fires, whilst our expensive Defence Force is there, fully funded, with crews and maintenance budgeted, yet possibly just on standby for the PM.
Now just imagine a squad of +8 of these ADF assets, supporting ALL the States & Territories with being able to supplement their existing rental fleets & be rapidly transformed & deploy as Fire Fighting support aircraft. They can work together spreading lines of retardant effectively choking the fires and supporting the ground crews & Air Assets. Aside from accomplishing the mission in catastrophic or code red high wind conditions, there would have to be some sort of national pride out of this too. Everyone loves low flying planes. After the task is completed of course the planes could be very quickly returned back to their normal duties with pilots that have an enhanced skillset.
Well it is to late for this season, the fires are too many and too big, the State Govt is already picking up the account after the NSW RFS Chief declared a localised State of Emergency known in NSW as a Section 44, which essentially opens up that Fire District/s to any and all assets from across the State with minimal budget restriction and it is backed by a 75/25 share split with the Federal Government. So the Federal Government is already contributing to these disasters, so that should make the cost analysis even easier to accomplish.
So lastly Argentina, Brazil, Chile & Colombia as all using this in their fight to take on the Amazon & the USA are using it to take on their worst fires in years in California, so is it about time Australia gets back up to global best practice and stops relying on renting more and more aircraft every year?
I need your help a❤️ gives much better Facebook presence than just a��and tagging one or two of your friends that do it to you helps spread the cause. Lets call on these people to work together:
PM Scott Morrison (ScoMo) , Senator Linda Reynolds , Emergency Service Minister #DavidLittleproud, #RichardAlder from NAFC, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services - QFES NSW RFS NSW Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW Fire and Rescue NSW Bushfire Section, CFA (Country Fire Authority) MFB (Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade), SA Country Fire Service, Fire & Rescue Service of Western Australia, ACT Fire & Rescue ACT Rural Fire Service Tasmania Fire Service, NT Fire & Rescue 4Corners
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