Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025
Key claim: The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 reauthorizes DoD to sell excess aircraft for wildfire suppression through 2035, expands permitted use to include water delivery, and removes restrictions on international assistance.
Abstract
(HR956 · 119th Congress) Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 This bill reauthorizes the Department of Defense to sell its excess aircraft and aircraft parts that are acceptable for commercial sale for wildfire suppression purposes. Such authority begins October 1, 2025, and ends October 1, 2035. The bill also provides that such aircraft may be used to deliver water by air in order to suppress wildfire (the previous authority only provided for the delivery of fire retardant). The bill removes the previous limitation on providing international wildfire suppression assistance with such purchased aircraft. Latest action (2025-03-07): Referred to the Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.
Why this matters
Wildfire suppression capacity directly affects rangeland, timber, and specialty crop producers whose operations face growing wildfire exposure, and can influence federal cost-shares that flow to rural counties. Expanding water-delivery use and international assistance broadens how the excess-aircraft pipeline can be deployed, while the 10-year reauthorization horizon gives cooperators a longer planning window for fleet composition.