Demos Showcase Rapid Conversion Suppression Kit

Airbus Defense and Space announced the success of a series of test retardant drops and demonstrations of its A400M firefighting kit in Nîmes-Garons, France. The tests were run by the Entente-Valabre’s Test and Research Center (CEREN) as an independent assessment of the A400M firefighting kit.

CEREN is a public institution authorized by the French Ministry of the Interior to assess firefighting equipment, training personnel in France and other countries, and is considered an international authority in the field.

The test campaign ran during the end of April 2025 and saw the A400M perform multiple drops of fire retardant over a designated section of the airfield. These so-called cup grid tests enabled CEREN to precisely evaluate the system’s capabilities including the accurate distribution and concentration of retardant upon reaching the ground.

The aircraft descended to altitudes under 30 m / 98 ft, at speeds approximately 230 km/h / 125 kts during the test runs.

The A400M firefighting kit is an innovative Roll-on/Roll-off design, referred to as Ro-Ro, and has not been on the market until now. Its unique operational element is that it requires no permanent modification to the aircraft, allowing any A400M in a fleet to be converted rapidly for firefighting missions and on very short notice.

The system is  housed in the cargo hold and can discharge up to 20,000 l / 5,280 gal of either water or retardant by gravity through the rear ramp which is kept open during the operation. The tanks can be refilled in under ten minutes with standard ground pumps for very rapid turnarounds.

The A400M is able to take off and land on short and unpaved runways, significantly enhancing its flexibility and enabling operations from a wide variety of bases and airfields close to fire zones.

Jo Müller, Head of Sustainability and Communications for Airbus Defense and Space said, “Following initial tests conducted in Spain, the successful completion of these tests in Nîmes is a crucial step forward in our ambition to shape an ecosystem of firefighting capabilities. The A400M's exceptional versatility, combined with the rapid deployment capabilities of this kit, offers a game-changing asset to complement existing technologies and platforms on the ground, in air and in space.”

FMI:  www.airbus.com/