USAF Wants Coal-Sourced Fuel Blend Powering All C-17s, B-52s

The Air Force marked the 104th anniversary of powered flight Monday, by completing the first transcontinental flight of an aircraft using a blend of regular Jet-A and synthetic fuel. 

A C-17 Globemaster III using the synthetic fuel blend lifted off shortly before dawn at McChord Air Force Base in Washington, and arrived in the early afternoon at McGuire AFB, NJ where it was greeted by Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne, New Jersey Rep. Jim Saxton, and a number of officials from both the airline and energy industries. 

"The Air Force is taking a leadership role in testing and certifying the use of synthetic fuel in aircraft," Secretary Wynne said.  "We're working very closely with our Army and Navy colleagues to ensure that this fuel is capable of operating in all of our aircraft. This is especially important because JP-8 military jet fuel is commonly used in the battlefield by the Army and Marines tactical vehicles and generators, as well as our respective aircraft." 

The flight follows successful tests of the fuel blend in C-17 engines in October, and is the next step in the Air Force's effort to have its entire C-17 fleet certified to use the mixture. As ANN reported, USAF officials certified B-52 Stratotankers to use the mixture in August, and hope to certify the fuel blend for use in all its aircraft within the next five years.

It isn't hard to see why the Air Force wants the fuel blend -- which mixes JP-8 with fuel produced using the Fischer-Tropsch process, a method that can convert virtually any carbon-based material into synthetic fuel. Such a blend has the potential to reduce the United States' dependency on foreign energy sources.

"The Air Force alternative fuel program is as important to the nation as it is to the Air Force because it keeps focus on alternative fuels by the largest user of fuel in the US government," Congressman Saxton said. "We must continue to support the research ... to find cleaner, more environmentally friendly fuels that include both renewable and unconventional fuel."

German chemists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch developed the fuel synthesis method in the 1920s. 

(Aero-News thanks Roger Drinnon, Air Mobility Command Public Affairs)

FMI: www.af.mil