Luxembourg may use its huge A400M military plane to fight forest fires, Defense Minister François Bausch has said, after tests in Spain showed Europe could put the costly carriers to work as it struggles with a historic drought.
“Such a system could be an economic and ecological option for countries that have large forest areas and that also operate A400M in the fight against forest fires,” Bausch said in answer to a parliamentary question about the tests in Spain from the conservative nationalists of the ADR.
“Because forest fires are also increasing in our latitudes due to climate change, [these planes] cannot be ruled out in future considerations,” he said.
Luxembourg operates its Airbus A400M transport plane together with neighbouring Belgium. They are among a group of only seven countries in the world to own the aircraft, which costs between 140 million and 180 million euros, according to the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation.
After the fall of the Afghan capital Kabul to the Taliban last year, the plane flew to the region to repatriate staff back to Europe. In the end, the plane – which can seat 120 passengers – instead hauled military equipment back to Europe. Later that year, the plane was used to transport vaccines into Africa.
Tests in Spain, which has been struggling to contain forest fires during this year’s exceptionally dry summer, had shown the planes can discharge around 20 tonnes of water every 10 seconds, Bausch said.
Rain returned to Luxembourg on Wednesday, but the country would nonetheless look at the use of the plane, Bausch said. On Tuesday, a forest fire occurred in Hautcharage, in the south-west of the country.
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