An Australian C-130 air tanker left Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on November 5 for East Kalimantan, Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said. Australia is also providing a Cessna Citation lead aircraft and 20 personnel to support the wildfire response.
The Australian Embassy’s November 5 announcement says the deployment follows a joint assessment led by Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, known as BNPB. Australia is providing the tanker through the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
Aircraft assigned to the response
The embassy says the C-130 can drop 15,000 litres of water in one sortie. The Citation will serve as the lead aircraft. BNPB plans to run the air operation from November 6 to 12 alongside ground firefighting and weather-modification operations. The agency did not confirm that a water drop had already taken place.
Archive photo of Coulson C-130 Airtanker 131 in May 2020. The Australian Embassy did not identify the aircraft assigned to Indonesia by registration. Photo: Doug Ross, San Bernardino National Forest, U.S. public domain. Resized and compressed to WebP.
