A system for mixing fire-suppressant gel with water on board an aircraft includes a gel reservoir mounted in the aircraft, a pump for injecting gel into a flow of water into an aircraft-mounted payload tank, and a control system for controlling gel-water mix ratios. The control system monitors water volume flowing into the water tank, and regulates the gel pump to inject gel in appropriate amounts to produce gel-water emulsions having precise gel-water ratios. Settings for the control system are set by the pilot before water flow water is initiated. Once the aircraft is in flight, the gel-water mixing process is automatically controlled through a trigger on the pilot's control stick. The aircraft may be a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft adapted to load water from a lake or other source while in flight, or a fixed-wing aircraft adapted to load water on land from a pressurized water source.

An artillery shell is fired out of a gun towards a fire. A trigger releases a fire-retarding material from the artillery shell to retard the fire.

Avionic display systems and methods are provided for generating avionic displays including aerial firefighting symbology, which enhance pilot situational awareness and decision during aerial firefighting operations. In an embodiment, the avionic display system includes an avionic display device, a thermal image sensor configured to detect thermal image data external to the aircraft, and a controller operably coupled to the avionic display device and to the thermal image sensor. During operation of the avionic display system, the controller compiles a fire map of a fire-affected area in proximity of the aircraft based, at least in part, on the thermal image data collected by the thermal image sensor. The controller further generates a first avionic display on the avionic display device including graphics representative of a field of view (FOV) of the thermal image sensor and portions of the fire map outside of the FOV of the thermal image sensor.

A forest fire retardant composition contains a retardant compound that includes a halide salt, a non-halide salt, a metal oxide, a metal hydroxide, or combinations thereof. The forest fire retardant composition may include at least one anhydrous salt and at least one hydrate salt. The halide salt may be magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, or both. The magnesium chloride hydrate has a formula MgCl.sub.2(H.sub.2O).sub.x, wherein x is at least one of x=1, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12. The calcium chloride hydrate has a formula CaCl.sub.2(H.sub.2O).sub.x, wherein x is at least one of 1, 2, 4, or 6. The composition may be in the form of a dry concentrate, a liquid concentrate, or a final diluted product. The final diluted product is effective in suppressing, retarding, and controlling forest fires while exhibiting corrosion resistance and low toxicity.

The present disclosure relates to an aerial drone with a central passage and a rotating frame. A payload moves within a central passage through the drone body into a deployed position. The payload engages with the rotating frame and can be rotated into a desired orientation below the drone.

The present invention relates a drone system for transporting liquid or gas from a remote area to a demand area. The drone system (100) includes: a transport pipe (10) for flowing the liquid or the gas; a pump device (201) for suppling the liquid or the gas to the transport pipe (10); a top drone (1) for holding a nozzle (11) coupled to a tip end of the transport pipe (10); a plurality of pump drones (6A, 6B), each of which incorporates a pump (40A, 40B); and a power supply unit (3) for suppling a power to the top drone (1) and the pump drones (6A, 6B) through power cables (5). Each of the pump drones (6A, 6B) has a coupling mechanism (35) for tiltably and rotatably coupling the pump (40A, 40B) to a pump drone body (30).

Systems and methods are provided for controlling a netting by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A mesh netting includes a plurality of nettings arranged as interspersed layers in a mesh form. Each of the plurality of nettings has fire-resistant property. Further, a battery powered UAV is present at an aerial location. The mesh netting is coupled to the UAV such that the UAV maintains the mesh netting afloat and adjusts at a position such that a particular source of flying embers is covered with the mesh netting. Also, a lifting kite coupled to the UAV at one end and attached to the mesh netting at another end is provided. The lifting kite carries and holds the mesh netting aloft when the UAV brings the lifting kite at an aloft position such that a particular source is covered with the mesh netting.

The instant invention relates to an apparatus and method for enhancing the fire extinguishing properties of water for use with fire fighting aircraft. The apparatus and method includes the steps of, and equipment for, transferring media into a holding tank in aircraft; filling a reservoir hopper with water in the aircraft; calculating the amount of media to be added to the reservoir; drawing the calculated amount of media into the reservoir to form an enhanced fire fighting admixture while the aircraft is in flight, wherein the admixture is offloaded by a controlled discharge for use in fighting forest fires.

A concentric, double hull, damage tolerant airframe vehicle double clad with a lightweight, impact resistant ceramic matrix composite for heat shielding and flame resistance, and fitted with insulation, to provide thermal protection from 35 C. to 1,650 C. of the internal fuselage areas for an extended period of time within an extreme heat environment, that will serve as a semi or fully autonomous vehicle, manned or unmanned, preferably an unmanned aerial vehicle designed as the delivery means to suppress or extinguish flames by repeatedly discharging pressure waves against flames without having to exit the fire environment.

A method of laser (30) based fire fighting, the method comprising: delivering energy from an emitted energy beam source to an active fire affected area (10) so as to process combustible material by one of cutting, ablating, charring and total oxidation so as to reduce the quantity of combustible material. Preferably the provided energy exhibits a total fluence of at least 50 micro-joule per square centimeter measured over a window of no more than 0.1 milliseconds. Preferably the provided energy is from a laser.