Source: The Conversation – Canada
The Canadian government recently announced that it will lease a fleet of 10 firefighting aircraft and other support assets to be deployed for the 2026 wildfire season. The plan will see these 10 leased aircraft being managed by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre deployed strategically across the country and made available to provinces as they face intense wildfires.
The new aircraft include four firefighting air tankers, one birddog plane and five heavy lift helicopters, with operating crew and maintenance support to be provided by the leasing companies.
This announcement follows the government’s fall 2025 budget announcement of a $316.7-million investment in Canada’s aerial wildfire-fighting capacity — an announcement that marked an important acknowledgement of a growing national challenge to improving the response to elevated wildfire activity.
After record fire seasons in 2023 and 2025, the federal government is stepping into a domain long dominated by the provinces. This surge model is intended to provide additional capacity when provincial resources are stretched. Increasing the wildfire aerial firefighting asset base is very welcome but remains an incomplete improvement to improving the effectiveness of the aerial wildfire firefighting strategy.
Policy architecture behind this action remains incomplete. Canada’s wildfire aviation system remains fundamentally decentralized. Provinces own or contract their own wildfire firefighting aircraft and rely on the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre to co-ordinate interprovincial sharing when resources allow.
That model worked when fire seasons were staggered geographically. Increasingly, they are not, and wildfires are more intense and fast-moving. In recent years, Canada has experienced multiple Level 5 preparedness alerts, meaning every available aircraft in the country is already responding to fires.
When that happens, there are no reserves left to move between provinces and action may be taken to call for international firefighting assistance. Leasing a handful of additional aircraft may ease pressure, but it does not resolve the structural vulnerability.
Read more: Dealing with wildfires requires a whole-of-society approach Canada needs a national framework What Canada lacks is a clearly defined national aerial response framework.
That framework should establish how federally-funded aircraft are deployed, how they are prioritized when multiple provinces face simultaneous fires, and how they integrate with the emerging detection technologies — including satellite monitoring and long-endurance drones — that can identify fires earlier than ever before.
Without that doctrine, the new surge capacity risks becoming another asset pool waiting for a crisis rather than a system designed to prevent one. Current aerial firefighting strategies focus primarily on support of ground forces in proximity to advancing wildfires on human establishment and infrastructure.
It is, however, important to note that aerial suppression remains most effective in the early stages of a wildfire, when rapid intervention can prevent a small ignition from becoming a landscape-scale disaster. But that requires aircraft to be positioned strategically and deployed quickly — not simply dispatched after fires have already significantly grown.
A national aerial firefighting framework During a recent visit to De Havilland Aircraft of Canada’s new production facility in Calgary, I saw firsthand manufacturing for the next generation of Canadair water bombers. The production rate for this new facility is set for 10 aircraft per year.
European customers have already ordered this new generation of aircraft for delivery through 2030, responding to their own worsening wildfire seasons. Provincial governments wanting to renew or expand their De Havilland waterbomber fleets have been told to expect deliveries through 2031 and 2032.
Yet Canada — the country that pioneered the modern water bomber — still lacks a coherent national strategy for aerial wildfire response. The point is not simply that Canada should acquire additional firefighting aircraft. The point is that Canada must decide what role aerial firefighting should play in a national wildfire resilience strategy.
Should federally funded aircraft focus on rapid initial response, similar to the model used in parts of southern Europe? Should they primarily reinforce provincial fleets during peak events? Or should they form the backbone of a national front-line attack capability that can be pre-positioned across the country as fire conditions develop?
These are important strategic questions. At present, they remain elements of a debate, they remain unanswered. Ottawa’s new funding recognizes that wildfire risk is no longer a purely provincial concern. Smoke from fires can affect millions of Canadians far from the flames themselves.
Evacuations disrupt regional economies. Insurance losses and infrastructure damage ripple across the country. Wildfire resilience has now been recognized as a national public-safety issue. Leasing aircraft through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre is a useful beginning.
But if Canada is serious about preparing for fire seasons, the next step is unavoidable: the development of a co-ordinated national aerial firefighting framework. This should be one that complements provincial operations while ensuring Canada has the capacity to respond when multiple regions face fire at the same time.
The fires are changing.
Canada’s wildfire aviation strategy must change with them.
John Gradek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/06/02/canadas-aerial-wildfire-fighting-plan-is-a-start-but-it-is-not-yet-a-strategy/