TURIN, Italy, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A U.S.-made system for fighting fires has been tested on a Romanian Air Force C-27J Spartan by aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermacchi, the company said.
The Caylym system, called Guardian, consists of six large cardboard containers -- each carrying 264 gallons of water or fire-retardant liquid -- which are dropped over a fire.
Alenia Aermacchi said the testing was recently conducted in a Romanian mountain range -- the first use of the Guardian system in Europe.
The standard-sized A22 containers were installed on the cargo plane without any modification to the aircraft and released using the C-27J's in-flight drop system.
"The system allows for a quick, accurate and innovative way to fight bushfires," Alenia Aermacchi said. "Using the C27J's system of in-flight drop, the Guardian guarantees extreme precision of the drop and creates a retardant liquid cloud well focused on the target. Containers are biodegradable but they can also be recovered by ground firefighters."
