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A European force of Canadairs? And why not !

(credit: Ministry of the Interior / DICOM)

(B2) This is the proposal just made by the president of the PACA region (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur) and European deputy, Renaud Muselier, in letter addressed to the French president, Emmanuel Macron. He believes that the only solution to the increased risks of fires and the weakness of air resources throughout Europe (1) is to set up a European air fleet.

A fleet limited in number

The situation is indeed difficult. France has 12 aging Canadairs planes (see below), Italy 13, Spain 14 CL-215T and 4 CL-415 and Greece too a good dozen (a fleet often very old and worn to the point that the number of operational aircraft is far from reaching the official figure, Minister Nikos Dendias already said in 2014 how much they “ were old and prone to mechanical failure recurring ", read here). While Portugal has none according to Renaud Muselier. We could add to this list Montenegro and Slovenia which have no aircraft to my knowledge, working mainly with helicopters. Bulgaria and Romania are also exposed to the risk of fires and have relatively few resources. In the Balkan region, Croatia is the most equipped with six CL-415s. In most countries, these aircraft depend on or are used by the air force.

 …and put to the test

The French fleet of firefighting aircraft, the 12 Canadair CL 415 aircraft in particular, should soon be renewed. Their age is not immense – 23 years for the oldest – But the “ lifespan of such devices is considerably reduced due to the multiplication of impacts with water ". We must “urgently renew our air fleet” he pleads.

Grouping together, a technological necessity

Only one solution: group together with several countries. “The Viking Air company in charge of marketing water bombers refuses to resume production if an order for at least 25 aircraft is not placed. » That's a budget of more than a billion euros. The only obvious solution.

…and an economic necessity

“France cannot support such an investment alone; the only solution is European via an ambitious community civil protection policy,” he argues. “France must engage all the countries of southern Europe in a major policy of renewing the intervention air fleet with the help of the European Commission via the European civil protection mechanism.”

Comment: this solution seems complex to implement. But it also seems to impose itself. Every year, the Canadairs race from one country to another. Because no country has sufficient resources to deal with its own fires. And several others (the smallest) are devoid of real means of struggle. It only takes two or three major fires to break out at the same time. And it's running out of fuel. Strengthened cooperation in this area is therefore necessary. It thus joins Michel Barnier's project of a European civil protection force.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(Maj) Spanish and Greek figures corrected, as the figures mentioned in the MEP's letter are not all correct.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).