Ottawa sells 10 retired military planes to convert for aerial firefighting
Original article ↗Key figures
Stephen Fuhr, secretary of state for defence procurement, said it will take Coulson Aviation in Port Alberni about 20,000 hours of labour to convert each CC-130H Hercules plane for aerial firefighting purposes.
The 10 CC-130H aircraft are part of a fleet of 12 that were retired by the Royal Canadian Air Force in January.
In June, the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry released a report calling on the government to fund a new national fleet of modern firefighting aircraft, among 15 recommendations to improve wildfire response.
Ottawa announced in May it would lease 10 aircraft — four air tankers, one spotter plane and five heavy lift helicopters — for 150 days starting in June, but senators contended that wouldn’t be sufficient.
Quoted verbatim from the article — not summarised.
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Excerpt from Global News
CANADA
Ottawa sells 10 retired military planes to convert for aerial firefighting
By Sean Boynton Global News
Posted August 7, 2026 2:19 pm
Updated August 7, 2026 4:52 pm
Stephen Fuhr, secretary of state for defence procurement, announced Friday the federal government is selling 10 CC-130H Hercules aircraft to Colson Aviation for conversion into aerial firefighting aircraft. Fuhr said each aircraft is expected to create aerospace jobs across B.C.…
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