Designate Wildfires As A Strategic Military Target

Back in the mid 20th century USA, if you wanted something to stop being, the most effective way was to add that thing to some of Curtis LeMay's more interesting lists. Strategic Air Command no longer exists, having won its fight without fighting, Sun Tzu would be proud. Nowadays, threats to the continental US are homegrown, possibly the most destructive is the routine wildfires that rage throughout the forested areas but most noticeably in the populated regions of California.

Strategies to fight these fires are myriad, one is to use specially adapted aircraft to drop water on the fire from above. Aircraft are fast, maneuverable and have been tasked with getting things to targets for a while. Sadly, the aircraft used are pretty modest in both number, size, and capability.

So, let's sell the idea to the air force. They load up 50 B52s with water, the network of tankers, AWACS, helicopters, fighter escorts, etc. mobilizes to get those B52s on a low- level bombing run through an inferno-like Californian hellscape. We build it into and use it in the training program, we develop interesting anti-conflagration weapons systems* and so on.

Instead of splashing a bit of water from some venerable yellow flying boat, we bring in the BUFFS to carpet from low level with a million pounds per day until the Colorado River has been airlifted 1000 miles out of the normal route. Satellite recon with IR should identify pockets of resistance that can be picked off from high altitude assets like the B1. Eventually, forest fires will be forced underground** severely limiting their capability against military and civilian assets.

*heat seekers exploit an obvious vulnerability of an opponent unfamiliar with camouflage in the modern battle theater **There are still issues in Centralia with this kind of thing.