Modular Airborne FireFighting System

The MAFFS consists of a series of five pressurized fire retardant tanks with a total capacity of 2,700 US gallons (10,000 L; 2,200 imp gal) and associated equipment which is palletized and carried in the aircraft's cargo bay.

[9] Far more significantly, the cargo ramp and door can remain closed, cutting drag considerably, and thereby allowing a greater performance margin than available with MAFFS I.

[9] MAFFS II was used for the first time on a fire in July 2008, when a crew from the 302d Airlift Wing launched from McClellan Tanker Base in California on an operational test using a C-130H.MAFFS equipment is stationed at eight locations around the United States.

They are considered a "24-hour resource", meaning that when activated, it is expected that it will take 24 hours for the aircraft to arrive on scene, as the C-130s have to be pulled from their regular military duties and fitted with the MAFFS equipment.

[10] When needed, regional foresters can request a MAFFS activation after they have ascertained that all available commercial air tankers are assigned to on-going incidents or committed to an initial attack.

[1] During the 1994 fire season, one of the worst during that decade, the four airlift wings equipped with MAFFS flew nearly 2,000 missions and dropped 51,000,000 pounds (23,000,000 kg) of retardant.

[12] In 2004, after all the large civilian tankers in the U.S. had been grounded due to safety concerns, MAFFS-equipped C-130s were pre-positioned in western states in anticipation of wildfires.

On July 1, 2012, MAFFS #7, which belonged to the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing based at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, crashed while fighting the White Draw Fire in South Dakota's Black Hills.