Aerial Firefighting DoD Excess Aircraft Transfer
Current understanding
A DoD program authorizes the sale of excess military aircraft for wildfire suppression use. The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 reauthorizes this authority through 2035, expands permitted use to include water delivery (in addition to retardant), and removes prior restrictions on providing international assistance. The program is intended to increase the pool of large air tankers available to federal, state, and cooperator firefighting fleets, with indirect implications for wildfire risk reduction near rural and agricultural lands.
Evidence log
- 2026-06-24 — Support our Firefighters Act: cross-connection with support-our-firefighters-act: Companion legislative activity in the broader firefighting-support policy space touching USDA/Forest Service equities. (novelty: 2)
- 2025-03-07 — Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025: cross-connection with wildfire-resilience-community-grants: Both address federal wildfire response capacity — one via aerial suppression assets, the other via community-level resilience grants. (novelty: 2)