Since June 28, the Air Force has made 44 flights in support of the biome
Air Force Agency, by Lieutenant Scarlet
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB), under the coordination of the Joint Command of Operation Pantanal II, has been fighting fires in the biome of Mato Grosso do Sul since June 28th and, on Tuesday (July 23rd), reached the milestone of 528,000 liters of water released in the Corumbá region.
In this operation, the KC-390 Millennium aircraft, operated by the First Troop Transport Group (1st GTT) – the Zeus Squadron – based at Anápolis Air Base (BAAN), was equipped, for the first time, with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) to help contain the flames. The equipment has a tube that projects water out of the plane’s left rear door and can discharge up to 12,000 liters in 7 seconds in fire areas.
The mission commander, Major Rafael Portella Santos, explained that the MAFFS operation is carried out in stages. The first is the coordination on the ground of the point where the flames need to be contained. Next, it is necessary to visualize the location, deconflict aircraft that are working in a similar way and contact the team on the ground. “From then on, there is a first pass, aiming for the precision and safety of the operation, and then the overflight to launch the water,” he explained.
“In addition to the important and distinctive operational capacity of the Brazilian Air Force in fighting fires, this milestone also reflects the interoperability of the three Armed Forces, since the water supply for the two pools, a total of 48,000 liters, is carried out by trucks from the Brazilian Navy and the Brazilian Army. Also noteworthy is all the work that went into coordinating the airspace to carry out this action, since there are several aircraft, both civilian and military, involved in the operation,” emphasized Colonel Leonardo Venancio Mangrich, Chief of Staff of the Component Air Force (FAC) of Operation Pantanal II.
The Modular Airborne Firefighting System weighs around six tons, without water insertion, and installation on the KC-390 Millennium requires six to eight hours of work. To adapt the aircraft, a team involving military personnel from the Electrical and Mechanical specialties is needed.
When activated for a mission such as the one carried out in the Pantanal, the KC-390 Millennium’s MAFFS is supplied with water from two pools located next to the aircraft. Each holds 24,000 liters. In addition to the water, the system uses compressed air to pressurize the liquid when dropping it on the fire outbreaks. The entire refueling process takes an average of 30 minutes, enabling a new take-off focused on fighting the flames.
Photos: Sergeant P. Silva / CECOMSAER; 1°GTT – *** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***