Forest fires keep coming and the pressure on firefighting resources is increasing. Also, to support the Canadairs, a new drop plane should soon strengthen the air arsenal capable of containing the flames. But new, it is not exactly new: it is a reconversion carried out by the Airbus A400M, a military transport plane in service since 2013. The Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez announced Monday July 20, 2026 on France Inter that it was “in the process of being equipped” to fight the fire and that it “can be used within ten days, the time to train the workforce”.
Reinforcement for a limited and old air arsenal
Usually used by the army for strategic and tactical transport missions, this Airbus is equipped with a water drop kit whose capacity of 20 tonnes is equivalent to that of three Canadairs. In this case, this military aircraft should be used mainly to spray retardant upstream of fires in order to contain the fire and protect vulnerable areas. The A400M will complement the aircraft already deployed, including 12 Canadian air bombers. A limited and old fleet, with an average age of 30 years, while the area of intervention is increasingly larger.
45 meters long, the A400M was designed for the transport of equipment, soldiers, large-scale equipment such as armored vehicles or helicopters, details the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. But, since 2022, the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has developed a removable firefighting kit, installed in the hold, and which allows water or retardant to be released through the rear ramp of the aircraft. Its tanks can be “filled in less than ten minutes using standard ground pumps”, assures the manufacturer.
A temporary conversion
Capable of “taking off and landing on unpaved and runways”, the aircraft can thus operate from “a wide range of air bases”, and therefore from aerodromes close to fire zones. It remains to master the piloting of such a monster of the air, particularly heavy, at a low altitude to release the retardant with precision. Once its mission has been accomplished, the device will be able to return to military use.
Although numerous tests have already been carried out by Airbus and by the French Test and Research Center in order to validate the proper functioning of the system since its creation in 2022, it was not until June 2026 that it found its first customer. And it was not France, but Spain, which decided to equip one of its A400Ms, a year after the fires which, in 2025, ravaged 400,000 hectares of its territory.
France then allowed itself to be convinced and chose to follow Spain’s lead by temporarily converting one of its 25 A400Ms to strengthen its fight against fires. A decision which required coordination between Civil Security, in charge of firefighting in France, and the Air Force, to which the A400Ms belong. Already, 40,000 hectares have burned in the territory in 2026, which is “much more than everything that was burned last year”, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
