Why doesn’t the military equip planes and tanks to fight the wildfires?

[smahala1991]

Like using stealth fighter jets to drop gallons of water on the fires or use water guns to douse the fires?

[CalmUntilAbused]

Okay, someone here really wants to beat the US military's record in killing the US budget. Then again, the US military does at least have a semi-valid reason to kill the US budget and the spending they undertake makes some partial sense.

First of all, stealth fighter jets are incredibly costly to operate. The US high-tech tanks come in close second, I believe. Flying stealth fighter jets and riding high-tech tanks to put out fires, summed up with the cost of adjusting this hardware for firefighting missions, is just far too costly, especially given the extremely low (potentially negative) reward gained from the use of military hardware over dedicated firefighting hardware.

[Anonymous]

It would be a lot more effective to use cargo jets even then it would take a lot of time to make the modifications. By which time the City of LA will have burned down.

We already have such a fleet regardless for fighting fires across the west. The other problem is this is an urban environment. You will kill people dropping water on them like that.

Being soo close to the ocean its more effective to truck in water and use the military to demo houses to make fire breaks if you can get the wind to cooperate.

All of that requires a Mayor and Governor to be willing to deal with the political backlash to go along with such a costly plan.

[Anonymous]

It isn't the number of planes.
What matters is qualified pilots.

Flying with weight.
Flying with immediate loss of weight.
Flying low, close to terrain.
Flying around fixed objects.
Flying in strong winds
Flying with added winds created by extreme heat
Aiming and hitting a target.

Not many people on the planet can accomplish all of these things safely, repetitively

[IslaTheWitch]

probably, the used fuel wouldn't sum up with transported water :D

[Syntosi]

Not to sound rude but that is not very smart. Military equipment is not designed for fighting fires and will just be in the way. Likewise military personnel is not trained for it either. Just leave this to the actual experts and if you want to help just increase their funding and they will improve in the areas that they think is for the best.

That said, there is a limit to how well we can fight fires. Something like what is happening in California is just far too outside of our current capabilities without some insane dedication of resources and manpower.

[NaultD]

With California the winds was fucking up any planes too much. There's not enough freshwater and salt fuckes everything up as bad as fire. It's probably as bad as salt the earth military doctrine from ancient times. Fire bad now, but things need to grow after.

Planes need to be specialized with landing and take off. Helicopter with attachment could do anything but are slow and need water.

[Astarlessnightsky]

I don't think you can change them this quickly to shoot/drop water instead of ammo.

But maybe its a good time to redirect a few bucks from the military budget towards the fire department.

[exitseven]

Fighter jets are not built to carry cargo, There are military planes that can carry cargo. The Air Force uses the C[130 for cargo I imagine they could carry w good amount of water.

[lightbulb27]

not made for fire fighting. it's possible there are fire ships that could get to areas on the coast.

[NathanDavis]

HEAR ME OUT !!!

why don't we add oxygen... to the hydrogen bomb

and then BOOM!!! water all over California, no more fires...

[LunarEclipse433]

You really asked that question? Do you know the billions of dollars it would cost to try and retro fit military equipment? Military planes for the most part are built for speed not low speed water delivery

[msc545]

You COULD use a ground attack fighter except modifying it to help instead of kill would be sacrilege against Capitalism.

[chefsam]

Too much money & time to replace or add the necessary equipment for that.

[Anonymous]

The biggest question is why isn't california not prepared?

[msc545]

For the US, killing people is far more profitable than putting out fires and saving lives. Money is far more important than people in Amerika.

[seeyounexttuesday]

I don't think fire has radar. No need for 'stealth'.

[Amart230]

Honestly it’s probably due to water capacity on the planes and the massive expenses it would cost the federal government to do something like that