France has announced it is now testing its A400M military transports to fight fires in the south of France, while Spain has announced it will do the same and may yet conduct tests before the fire season is out
France tests A400M transport in firefighting role
According to the French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, speaking on BFMTV, French authorities have begun using an Airbus A400M strategic/tactical transport on a trial basis to help fight wildfires in the south of France
The firefighting trial was carried out with the approval of the Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, and the test could be conducted within 15 days
Nuñez said that the A400M is equipped with a system that enables it to drop some 20,000 litres of water. This is equivalent to the capacity of three Canadair firefighting aircraft
The Canadair CL-415 (Super Scooper) is part of a series of amphibious aircraft initially built by Canadair, then Bombardier, then De Havilland Canada, and is specifically designed for aerial firefighting
France has a fleet of 12 Canadair firefighting aircraft along with eight Dash aircraft, three reconnaissance planes, and six light aircraft equipped with water tanks. Several dozen helicopters equipped for firefighting top up the French fleet
Airbus plans to make the A400M into a drone mothership by the end of the decadeAirbus plans to make the A400M into a drone mothership by the end of the decade
Spain also working to develop firefighting A400Ms
In May 2026, it was announced that Spain was planning to use its fleet of A400Ms in a firefighting role. These add a heavy air tanker capability with the removable roll-on/roll-off kits and do not require permanent aircraft modifications
Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez presented the initiative at the Torrejón Air Base as part of the largest state deployment for the firefighting campaign
According to the Spanish news outlet, Micosiervos, as of July 2026, there are only two prototypes of the firefighting kits. It’s unclear if that’s two in total or two in Spain. After testing, one of them will be used as the basis for manufacturing the kits for the A440M
It also remains unclear if Spain will join France in using A400Ms in a testing firefighting capacity this summer
Airbus making the A400M a multirole transport
The French and Spanish announcements build on a June 2025 announcement by Airbus that it had successfully completed a series of test drops and demonstrations of its A400M firefighting demonstrator kit in France. Airbus has been developing this capability for years
One limitation of the A400M is that it needs to land to refill its tank (the Canadairs are amphibious and can scoop). But it is also able to operate from unprepared or poorly maintained runways and can be refilled in around ten minutes if the right pumps are available
The push to make the A400M capable of firefighting is part of a broader trend to make military aircraft capable of more missions. This is true for modern fighter jets, which are essentially all now multi-role, and the Airbus A330 MRTT tanker
Besides its core transport role, Airbus has developed the A400M transport with an aerial refueling tanker role (probe-and-drogue), MEDEVAC, and firefighting
Airbus is also developing a role for the A400M drone carrier/drone mothership able to deploy swarms of drones (around 50 smaller drones or 12 larger ones) and has spoken that it could support next-generation collaborative combat operations
Airbus has discussed future airborne command & control (C2) hub, electronic warfare, long-range jamming, and other roles for the aircraft
Featured Image: Airbus
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DefenceDefence & SecurityInnovation & TechnologyAirbus A400MFire fightingFranceFrench Air and Space ForceSpainSpanish Air and Space Force
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