Fire aircraft. History and modernity

Large-scale fires, both natural and anthropogenic, represent a serious threat to the forest resource of the country, flora and fauna, the environment in general, and often directly threaten the safe vital activity of a person. The main function of fire aviation is the timely detection, localization and rapid elimination of fires in large areas.

Winged fighter. Start

The first test flights to neutralize the fire element (Shatursky Forestry, Moscow Region) made a U-2 biplane in the summer of 1932. Bombs with a special chemical composition were dropped on the fires. Also, the first fire-fighting aircraft was equipped with a 200-liter tank, from which a special solution was sprayed, creating barrier strips preventing the spread of fire. The results turned out to be unsatisfactory, but the main directions of the development of aviation fire-fighting technology were determined.

Fire aviation of the USSR

For more than half a century, various modifications of the AN-2 multipurpose aircraft were actively used for monitoring the fire situation, delivering people and cargo. In 1964, a specialized model was developed-the fire-fighting aircraft AN-2P, capable of delivering 1240 liters of water solution to the fires in the tanks.

At the end of the 1980s, the forest fire squadron was replenished with Antonov OKB aircraft equipped with external water-filling devices with a capacity of 2 tons. The AN-26P had two such tanks, AN-32P-four. Aircraft AN-32P FAIRKILLER especially distinguished themselves in the elimination of fires in the Crimea (1993) and Portugal (1994).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of an airmobile group in the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in 1994, another fire aircraft - IL-76TD - was put into operation.

Giant Time

To eliminate fires in large areas, ID-76TD is equipped with two VAPs (outgoing aircraft instruments) with a total capacity of 42 m ³ . The Aviation Park of the Ministry of Emergency Measures received five such vehicles. Strategic water bombers have been used repeatedly to combat mass fires on Sakhalin, in the Khabarovsk Territory and Transbaikalia, in the Amur Region and Primorye.

Combat exploitation showed mixed results. According to technical characteristics and uniqueness of design developments, VAP-2 was much superior to all existing analogues at the time - a fire plane could produce a massive water discharge in only 4 seconds from a height of 50 meters. But the considerable remoteness of the airfields with the necessary length of the runway for this class of cars, the lack of infrastructure for refueling with fuel and water significantly reduced the efficiency of work.

Amphibian aircraft

A significant contribution to the development of domestic firefighting aircraft made experts Taganrog Aviation Complex. Beriev. The first fire-fighting amphibian Be-12P-200 was tested in 1996.

In the fuselage of the machine are mounted two tanks of 6 m ³ , divided into two parts with self-contained leaflets. The board is equipped with a control and measuring system for monitoring the environment, equipment for targeted discharge of water. How does a fire plane pick up water? There are two options. The first is available to all aircraft - refueling at the airport. With good technical support Be-12P will refuel within half an hour. The second way - in the mode of gliding over the water surface - fill the tanks with water only amphibians. At the same Be-12P this procedure will take 14-16 seconds.

Since 2012, the multifunctional Be-200Ch fights with fire. Time of refueling on gliding was reduced to 12 seconds. A volley discharge of water takes less than a second. Fully fueled fuel tanks amphibious enough to deliver to the epicenter of the fire over 300 tons of water.