France Uses Airbus A400M Military Transport for First Wildfire Drop

On 25 July 2026, the French Air and Space Force deployed an Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft to combat large wildfires in the Gironde department near Bordeaux. The aircraft was fitted with a roll‑on/roll‑off firefighting kit that can be installed or removed in 1–2 hours, allowing the A400M to temporarily carry a 20‑ton (20,000 litre) tank of water or fire‑retardant and release it in a single pass. During the operation the A400M released up to 20,000 litres of retardant over the forest, joining the efforts of civilian water‑bombers, which have been limited by technical problems. The mission formed part of France’s Operation Sentinelle and benefitted from the EU’s rescEU emergency‑response mechanism, which also saw two AT‑802 firefighting aircraft from Cyprus and two from Sweden deployed to assist French crews. The successful test demonstrates the A400M’s versatility for civilian disaster response and could boost future sales of the system.