The Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing in Cheyenne recently received its first new-generation Modular Airborne Firefighting System, MAFFS II, for its C-130s. Thanks to a single pressure-fed nozzle ducted through the aft paratroop door, MAFFS II achieves denser coverage from higher altitude than its predecessor. It’s able to drench a 100-foot-wide, quarter-mile-long path from 150 feet above ground. Beyond accuracy, ejecting a pressurized jet of retardant away from the aircraft prevents fuselage corrosion, while the self-pressurizing system cuts the amount of ground equipment needed to prep the aircraft. The Air Force aims to equip all of its Air Guard and Air Force Reserve Command aerial firefighting units with MAFFS II. The 153rd AW is currently awaiting its second MAFFS II kit. The California Air Guard’s 146th AW was the first unit to transition. (Cheyenne report by SSgt. Natalie Stanley) (For more background on MAFFS II, see US Northern Command release)
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.