The development of this prototype and the tests have been carried out in close collaboration with the 43rd Group of the Spanish Air Force, as well as European authorities in Firefighting operations and the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO).
The Airbus firefighting solution created for the A400M is a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) kit that requires no aircraft modification and is therefore interchangeable with any aircraft in the A400M fleet. The water is stored in a fixed tank in the cargo hold and retained by two independent doors. These doors are connected to two flood pipes, so when the discharge is triggered, the water is expelled through two sections at the end of the ramp. The introduction of this RORO solution allows a rapid reaction to unforeseen fires and reconfiguration of the aircraft to any of its other roles.
