The U.S. Senate passed a new bipartisan bill Wednesday that was co-authored by California Senator Alex Padilla, reauthorizing the Department of Defense of sell excess aircraft and aircraft parts to firefighters helping fight U.S. wildfires.
The Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 allows U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to sell aircraft equipment to both people or companies that contract with the U.S. government to fight wildfires. That includes companies like Coulson Aviation, Neptune Aviation, Bridger Aerospace and Dauntless Air among others.
The bill allows sales through 2035.
Aircraft played a crucial role as crews battle the January 2025 wildfires, especially in difficult-to-reach rural environments near Angeles National Forest during the Eaton Fire.
“Californians saw firsthand the power of our aerial wildfire suppression fleet in putting out the Los Angeles fires as quickly as possible,” said Senator Padilla. “Shoring up aerial firefighting fleets by allowing the Department of Defense to sell excess aircraft parts is a lifesaving, commonsense priority — and I’m glad to see the Senate come together to unanimously pass this bipartisan legislation.”
The new bill amends the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996, which allowed similar sales of excess aircraft and parts by DOD between 1996 and 2005. The window was reopened from 2012 through 2017 before going dormant again for the past eight years.
The bill will now be sent to the House for passage before it’s fully enacted.
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