Fires and water bombers: the match between two Toulouse planes

No more aircraft manufacturer today makes water bombers around the world. Faced with an upsurge in forest fires and a fleet in aging service, more and more expensive and complicated to keep in flight, two Toulouse companies have decided to throw themselves in the water. On the one hand, the positive Aviation start-up, installed in the former premises of Universal Hydrogen in Blagnac, works on an amphibious waterplane plane, the FF72. On the other hand, the company Kepplair collaborates with Aerotec, a subsidiary of Expleo specializing in aircraft changes and based in Toulouse, on a fire-fighting device and transformed into a cargo plane, the Kepplair 72.

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To save time and money, the two companies have chosen to take an existing commercial aircraft as a basis, ATR 72, and convert it into a water bomber. But the projects are very different.

A ATR 72 in Amphibie version

The positive aviation project is undoubtedly the most ambitious. It is indeed to transform a regional aircraft into a amphibious airplane airplane. The device will have a drop-down capacity of 8,000 liters, 2,000 more than that of a Canadair CL-415. For this, the device will have two floats, themselves equipped with landing trains and scoops. The FF72 will thus have the capacity to take off and land from an airport and fill its tanks by passing over a lake or the sea.

Laurent Schmitt, the president of Positive Aviation, measures the magnitude of the task. This former A330neo chief engineer surrounded himself with around twenty specialists and several partners*. There are many challenges to be met to reach an amphibious plane but the choice is assumed. “When a fire is established, it is necessary to drop at least six tonnes of water at the rate of twenty times per hour,” said the business manager. “The only way to have this effectiveness is to have short rotation planes, capable of scoping on water bodies and performing between 5 and 10 drops per hour. With a conventional plane, forced to come and recharge at an airport, we are generally on a drop per hour.”

If no wave comes to condom the project, a demonstrator will make its first test flight next summer from Toulouse, and will continue with water tests near Marseille and then in Biscarrosse. The entry into service of the amphibious aircraft is announced for the end of 2028. Positive Aviation has already received ten firm orders from Bridger Aerospace, an American private fire-fighting company with which it has established a collaboration.

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The conversion of an ATR into a amphibious water version of water will be carried out in Toulouse, will take four months, and will cost around € 20 million. The finishes and delivery will be made from the United States. Positive Aviation assesses market needs to 400 devices… 250 to replace existing devices and 150 to meet the needs of new customers. By 2030, it plans to deliver twelve copies each year.

A Multi Multi -Plane

Kepplair did not choose an amphibious plane. His Kepplair 72 will have to refuel in water or delay on a “Pelicandrome”, like the current Dash-8 of Civil Security. With two tanks, he can store and drop via his hatches some 7,500 liters.

The transformation of the devices was entrusted to the Aerotec company. It will cost between 9 and 12 million € per device. The objective is to manage to put this ATR on the market in a bombardier of water in a very short time. “The idea is to release an airplane for the 2027 fire season so as to renew the current fleet as soon as possible,” confirms Pierre Da Costa, the head of the Bombardier d’Eau department at Aerotec. About twenty people work on this project. Structural changes on an used ATR 72 must start at the end of the summer of 2026 near Toulouse-Blagnac airport. The first test flight is announced before the end of next year.

But Kepplair’s water bomber will not have the fight against forest fires. The company intends to make it a multi -residential plane. “It is a plane that will be able to be used as a cargo adion, to transport freight, but also for health evacuation, or troop transport,” explains Pierre Da Costa, “it will be enough to remove the tanks.” If the Kepplair 72 has not yet recorded firm orders, it has recently received support from the French Directorate of French Civil Security. At full pace, by 2029, Aerotec plans to have two transformation lines in Toulouse and to deliver six bombers of water per year.

An Airbus A319 converted into a heavy bomber

In parallel, Aerotec works on a second program for an American customer, Neptune Aviation. It aims to convert, by mid-2027, an Airbus A319 into a heavy bomber for delaying drops. The aircraft will have a reservoirs with a capacity of 17,000 liters. The Montana -based fire fighting company wishes to acquire between ten and fifteen copies.