Congress established the MAFFS program after the 1970 Laguna Fire overwhelmed the existing aviation firefighting resources . The USFS was directed to develop a program in cooperation with the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve to produce the equipment , training and operational procedures to integrate military air tankers into the national response system . The Engineered Systems Division of FMC Corporation ( Santa Clara , CA ) was contracted to design , build and test the modular tank system that would enable a standard C-130 to be quickly converted into a tanker . Initial flight tests with a prototype two-tank installation began in July 1971 . Subsequent systems were fabricated by Aero Union of Chico , California
Laguna Fire
Laguna Fire
Modular Airborne FireFighting System