What you're not accounting for is that the RAAF are already utilising their C130's for what they were intended for in scope. You would essentially be taking a large chunk of the current fleet out of service to be on standby for a separate tasking. If you simply have the current aircraft sitting on standby, then they would not really be dedicated for the task as they could disappear elsewhere at a moments notice for other RAAF tasking.
To add firefighting would realistically need more airframes and more crew and all the infrastructure and knock on effect that would entail.
Once you factor everything in it's still far cheaper to have contractor aircraft and crews for the summer, and then they disappear for the winter. Not to mention you have crews with years of experience of firebombing as opposed to RAAF crews cycling in and out on various postings and duty cycles.
I'm not saying the RAAF guys can't do it, I'm simply saying it's far more expensive than you think it is for them to do it, along with the fact that you won't truly have dedicated availability like contractor aircraft.
Also, in the US when you're flying on the fireline and you see the integration of the guard machines, I think you'll find the effectiveness of their machines vs contractor operated machines vary greatly (as it's not a secondary duty for contractors so to speak). Just ask the USFS, Dept of interior, BLM (for the USA) if they prefer to have contractor or guard/military machines on the line. It's not uncommon to see contractor pilots flying a UH1H with a longline bucket put out 3-4 times the amount of water (accurately) than a Guard Blackhawk crew with 3x the lift capacity simply due to the proficiency of the contractor pilot doing it day in and day out. The military crews that are only doing it part time often hinder the contractor crews as they screw up the pattern/timing of the dips for everyone else because they're so slow. It's not their fault and I know they're doing a good job for the training and experience that they have, but it's just not what they do all day everyday.
**Note; I'm not knocking military pilots, they're great at what they do but firefighting isn't something that you just do 2-3 drops and you become expert level at, just like any other type of niche flying.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by havick; 2nd Dec 2016 at 15:53.