Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025
Current understanding
The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 reauthorizes and expands existing DoD authority to sell excess military aircraft for wildfire suppression use. The bill broadens the permissible mission set from retardant-only to include water delivery, removes prior restrictions on international assistance, and extends the authority through 2035. It is an incremental legislative update to an established excess-aircraft transfer program rather than a new mechanism.
Evidence log
- 2026-07-30 — Wildfire Research Coordination Act of 2026: cross-connection with wildfire-research-coordination-act: Both address federal wildfire capability development; research coordination may inform aerial firefighting technology investments. (novelty: 2)
- 2026-02-24 — ACERO Act: cross-connection with acero-act-wildfire-uas: Both address federal aerial wildfire response capabilities — ACERO focuses on NASA-led UAS R&D and airspace coordination, complementing broader aerial firefighting authorities. (novelty: 3)