For the history of this series of US rejections, you'd need to go back to archives at Christian Science Monitor and New York Times in the late 90s, thence forward through a number of reports on the issue, including local and national television in Australia, Canada, and the US. BBC has original footage of the airplane under test by the US Forest Service at Larkhill in the mid 90s. One of the best rejection reports is here: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3319268/detail.html There is no doubt in this writer's mind that the IL-76 would have made a substantial difference fighting Australia's recent bush fires.