Hi John. As indicated in the start of the post there have been, a number of years ago, the idea and consideration of the ADF having the potential to be able to provide an aerial fire fighting capability. Nothing is going to get off the ground this year let alone next year even if signed off on. I may have missed the post that asked the ADF to be involved now. I appreciate the feedback on contractors, training and other requirements but as you indicated it would be great to have the ADF as a backup. The mil operators are trained to a high level for the roles they perform. Given the ADF helo pilots (for the most part) are trained in under slung loads I don't see it being a large training requirement to include buckets and fire fighting.
Perhaps NSW needs to invest a bit more in aerial equipment which they can than lease to the other states
