France carried out its first nighttime aerial firefighting drops on the night of August 17 to 18, 2026, using the Australian CH-47D Chinook based at Mont-de-Marsan since early August. No aircraft in the French inventory can do the same.
The Canadair CL-415s and Dash 8s flown by the Sécurité Civile, France’s civil protection agency, are daylight assets. When a fire kept running after dark, ground crews held the line alone until the aircraft returned at first light. An Australian CH-47D Chinook, based at Mont-de-Marsan, is now closing that gap.
The helicopter, provided by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and operated by Coulson Aviation, carries 11,300 liters of water or retardant in a tank fitted inside the cabin. That tank is what makes night work possible.
An internal tank instead of a bucket
The Chinook previously flew with a 10,000-liter suspended bucket, which the New South Wales government said in December 2024 was too dangerous to use at night or overpopulated areas.
Removing the slung load left crews with a stable airframe, predictable handling and more precise drops, whether released in a single salvo or spread along a line. The tank refills in roughly 90 seconds by suction and needs only a meter or two of water depth.
What arrived at Mont-de-Marsan
Two Royal Australian Air Force C-17s delivered the Chinook and a Bell 412 in kit form in early August 2026, and both were reassembled at Mont-de-Marsan Air Base. They are accompanied by 24 aviation personnel, including pilots, engineers and maintenance specialists.
The Bell 412 carries 1,800 liters and, fitted with a multispectral camera, marks targets for the heavier helicopter, a role that matters most at night, when crews fly on night vision goggles. Australia announced the deployment on August 2, 2026, the first time the service has operated in Europe. The aircraft are scheduled to stay until the end of September 2026.
Daylight debut in the Landes
The #RFS Chinook and Bell 412 have continued supporting firefighting operations across southern France, with the contingent continuing to operate out of Mont-de-Marsan. Since the deployment began, the Chinook has dropped more than 280,000 litres of water on fires. pic.twitter.com/sjQtaUk7fN
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) August 18, 2026
The Chinook flew its first operational sorties on August 14, 2026, over the Luglon fire in the Landes, which had burned 1,600 hectares by that weekend. Seven morning drops were treated as an experiment, and Sécurité Civile spokesperson Colonel Jérôme Boulanger said the results were convincing enough to commit the aircraft again the same afternoon.
Paris has been adding daytime capacity, committing an A400M with an experimental retardant kit over the Gironde on July 25, 2026.