The California National Guard has released footage from the flight deck of a MAFFS (Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System) equipped C-130J Super Hercules, as it flew a sortie over the Hughes fire in Castaic, California. MAFFS are the U.S. Forest Service’s portable fire-retardant delivery systems and can be inserted into military C-130 aircraft without major structural modifications to convert them into airtankers when needed. The aircraft can discharge their entire load of up to 3,000 gallons of retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide.
