Iridium Satellite LLC said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service fitted 200 primarily contract aircraft with Iridium equipment. The aircraft are part of the interagency Automated Flight-Following (AFF) program and are mainly helicopters and light and transport fixed wing-airtankers used for wildland firefighting and other agency missions.

The AFF system automatically tracks and displays location and other associated information for aircraft on operational missions.

Under visual flight rules, aircraft on official missions are required to establish positive contact and report aircraft position at least once every 15 to 30 minutes, depending on individual agency requirements.

Iridium partners Blue Sky Network, Latitude Technologies, Sky Connect and Skytrac Systems provided the Iridium equipment and airtime. The aircraft crews use Iridium for flight-following as well as cockpit voice and data communications. The value of the services was not disclosed.