US Military to Search for an Alternative to Oil-Based Fuel
WASHINGTON, May 13 — When an F-16 lights up its afterburners, it consumes nearly 28 gallons of fuel per minute. No wonder, then, that of all the fuel the United States government uses each year, the Air Force accounts for more than half. The Air Force may not be in any danger of suffering inconveniences from scarce or expensive fuel, but it has begun looking for a way to power its jets on something besides conventional fuel.
In a series of tests — first on engines mounted on blocks and then with B-52’s in flight — the Air Force will try to prove that the American military can fly its aircraft by blending traditional crude-oil-based jet fuel with a synthetic liquid made first from natural gas and, eventually, from coal, which is plentiful and cheaper.
While the military has been a leader in adopting some technologies — light but strong metals, radar-evading stealth designs and fire-retardant flight suits, for example — any effort to hit a miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency rating has taken a back seat when the mission is to haul bombs farther and faster or push 70-ton tanks across a desert to topple an adversary. (The Abrams tank, for example, gets less than a mile per gallon under certain combat conditions.)
“Energy is a national security issue,” said Michael A. Aimone, the Air Force assistant deputy chief of staff for logistics.
The United States is unlikely ever to become fully independent of foreign oil, Mr. Aimone said, but the intent of the Air Force project is “to develop enough independence to have assured domestic supplies for aviation purposes.”
By late this summer, on the hard lake beds of the Mojave Desert, where the Air Force tests its most secret and high-performance aircraft, a lumbering B-52 is scheduled to take off in an experiment in which two of the giant bomber’s engines will burn jet fuel produced not from crude oil but from natural gas. The plane’s six other engines will burn traditional jet fuel — just in case.
The Air Force consumed 3.2 billion gallons of aviation fuel in fiscal year 2005, which was 52.5 percent of all fossil fuel used by the government, Pentagon statistics show. The total Air Force bill for jet fuel last year topped $4.7 billion.
Although the share of national energy consumption by the federal government and the military is just 1.7 percent, every increase of $10 per barrel of oil drives up Air Force fuel costs by $600 million per year.
In some ways this is very exciting to here. Who better then the American Military to spend billions of dollars on finding alternative fuel sources? The military will probably be given more money then any other group in the US to find an energy solution. I guess my only concern would be, will they share what they find with the rest of the world? If they can find an energy / fuel source that can deliver similar performance to that of gasoline it would be a great thing for everyone if it was shared. It is really hard to believe the enormous amount of fuel the US military actually uses. I can see why they would be actively looking for solutions to the problem. I am not certain just changing the mix of fuel will be the solution. I would think a modification to the engines might be required too. I am excited by the possibilities here. Lets just hope they share their findings.