The concept of converting the S-3B into an air tanker has been floating around for a while, so let’s explore it a little.
In 1975 the U.S. Navy replaced the S-2 with the jet engine powered S-3A. The S-2 is still being used today by CAL FIRE after the agency replaced the piston engines with turboprops and renamed it the S-2T.
Most of the S-3As, 119 of the 188 that were built between 1974 and 1978, were modified in the mid- to late 1980s with updated avionics, radar, and missile capability, and an updated name — S-3B.
Since they were retired in 2009, over 100 S-3Bs have been stored in the desert. According to an engineering analysis by Argon ST, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company, an S-3B converted into an air tanker could carry up to 2,000 gallons of retardant, would have a maximum speed of 450 KIAS (518 mph), a drop speed of 125 to 135 KIAS (144 – 155 mph), with retardant coverage levels from 0.5 to 8. The engineering analysis for tanking the S-3B was sponsored by NASA and is available at no cost to the USFS.
The S-2T used by CAL FIRE has a 1,200-gallon retardant tank and a maximum speed of 235 KIAS (270 mph).
A speedy air tanker with those specifications would make a pretty good initial attack resource. One of our readers suggested that the federal land management agencies could pick up 100 of them and outfit 40 with tanks. Many of us will remember when the U.S. Forest Service had significant initial attack capability from both the ground and the air.