澳大利亚依赖的跨半球航空灭火资源共享机制正面临日益严峻的挑战。随着气候变化导致北半球和南半球火季越来越重叠，全球对航空灭火资源的竞争加剧，澳大利亚可能无法持续依赖这一防灾手段[1]。澳大利亚国家航空灭火中心警告称，"全球火季越来越长，飞机不再在不同地区移动，飞行员越来越难招聘"[1]。
为2025-26年灭火季，澳大利亚合同了175架飞机，高峰期可提供约250架航空灭火资源[1]。欧洲最大航空应急服务公司CEO John Boag指出，"全球火季正在变长，飞机不在地区间移动，飞行员越来越难获得"[1]。
面对这一形势，联邦政府从2024年起额外投入3500万澳元用于两年的国家航空灭火能力建设，加上现有年均3100万澳元投资[1]。2019-20年黑夏林火皇家委员会曾建议建立主权航空灭火机队，但该建议未被采纳[1]。最近，两架租赁给澳大利亚公司的直升机在希腊周日空中相撞，造成两名机组人员死亡[1]。
Australia has contracted 175 aircraft for the 2025-26 fire season, with the potential to deploy approximately 250 aerial firefighting resources at peak capacity [1]. However, this critical firefighting capability faces mounting pressures as global fire seasons increasingly overlap between hemispheres, potentially undermining the international resource-sharing arrangements upon which Australia has traditionally relied.
The National Aerial Firefighting Centre has warned that "global fire seasons are becoming longer, aircraft are no longer moving between regions, and pilots are increasingly difficult to recruit" [1]. This assessment echoes concerns raised by John Boag, CEO of Europe's largest aerial emergency services company, who noted that "global fire seasons are lengthening, aircraft are not moving between regions, and pilots are increasingly difficult to obtain" [1]. These overlapping seasonal demands mean that Australia and European nations may simultaneously need their aerial resources at home, eliminating the flexibility that has previously allowed aircraft and personnel to rotate between the two hemispheres during opposite fire seasons.
The federal government has committed an additional AUD 35 million over two years toward national aerial firefighting capacity building, supplementing the existing annual investment of AUD 31 million [1]. A 2019-20 royal commission into Australia's Black Summer bushfires recommended establishing a sovereign aerial firefighting fleet, though this recommendation was not adopted [1].
The risks became tangible when two helicopters contracted to an Australian company collided in Greek airspace on Sunday, resulting in two crew member fatalities [1].