Retired German Transall transports being converted into armored firefighting aircraft

Total Aeronautical Services (TAS), based in Lower Saxony, is preparing two retired Transall C-160D aircraft for a return to service as water bombers. The company hopes to have the first aircraft, registered D-AMJT, flying operational firefighting missions by the summer 2027 wildfire season.

If that timeline holds, the aircraft would become the first Transall to appear on Germany's civil aircraft register. The conversion has drawn support from the country's Federal Aviation Office and the Bundeswehr's procurement agency.

The modification centers on a Helitak tank fitted inside the cargo hold, capable of holding roughly 14 tonnes of water or fire retardant. France used a similar system on an A400M over the Gironde region, discharging through the rear ramp. The Transall's tank works differently: it empties through the belly near the aircraft's center of gravity, releasing up to 3,000 liters per second. TAS says the tank can be refilled in about three minutes on the ground.

One notable feature of the aircraft is armor plating beneath the cockpit and forward cargo area, originally installed by the Luftwaffe for missions in hostile territory. TAS believes this protection could let the converted aircraft operate over former military training grounds and other sites where unexploded ordnance makes ground-based firefighting risky or impossible.

That capability took on added relevance after a fire broke out in the Hürtgenwald forest in North Rhine-Westphalia in August 2026, on land still affected by old munitions. The Luftwaffe retired its Transall fleet in recent years, following France's earlier retirement of the type from military service.