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Well, several years after the Air Force certified the C-17 to fly on coal-based synthetic jet fuel, it’s gone and certified the cargo hauler to fly on biofuel. In fact, the Globemaster III is the first Air Force plane to be cleared to fly using “hydroprocessed blended biofuels known as hydrotreated renewable jet fuels” mixed with standard JP-8 jet gas. This comes just under a year after the Navy cleared the F/A-18EF Super Hornet to fly using biofuel. This certification is part of an effort to find an alternative fuel source for all Air Force planes that emits fewer greenhouse...

While the services are being pretty tight lipped about their plans to achieve the billions in efficiency savings mandated by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, last week Air Force Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove gave a hint of one proposal the air service may have on the table; fuel savings. Yes, this seems like a no-brainer, especially since the Air Force has long said it needs to trim its gas consumption, but it’s how the service might do this that is interesting. “Is four-hours of reserve fuel on a C-17″ really necessary, Breedlove, who is in charge of Air Force plans, operations...

An F110 engine that powers the F-16 Fighting Falcon recently began performance testing at Arnold Engineering Development Center using a 50/50 blend of JP-8 conventional aviation fuel and a bio-fuel derived from the oil contained in the seed of the camelina plant, commonly known as false or wild flax. "The testing recently initiated at AEDC will be the first dedicated, uninstalled engine tests conducted by the Air Force [on Hydro-processed Renewable Jet (HRJ) blended fuel]," said Jeff Braun, the Air Force's Alternative Fuels Certification Office director. "These will also be the first engine tests conducted by the Air Force [on...

Check this out for a brain-twisting juxtaposition: The U.S. military has successfully tested out a biofuel system for a "Warthog" A10 Thunderbolt II, one of the most feared combat aircraft in the World. Which is now fluffily green. Specifically, the aircraft was an A10C, and the fuel that was pumped through its modified General Electric TF34-GE-100A turbofans was based on Camelina. This plant, also known as false flax, has been trialled on other U.S. military aircraft, and was converted into a 50% biofuel and 50% aviation fuel mix for the A10 experiment. As much as the move sounds like a...

An Air Force test pilot is scheduled to fly an A-10 Thunderbolt II jet aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base March 25 on a blend of biomass-derived and conventional JP-8 jet fuel. This will be the first flight of an aircraft powered solely on a biomass-derived jet fuel blend. The biomass-derived fuel used for this event is referred to as hydrotreated renewable jet, or HRJ, and is part of a class of fuels derived from either plant oil or animal fat feedstocks. The feedstock source of the biomass powering the A-10 demonstration is camelina oil, a flowering plant in the...

(AFNS) -- To reduce reliance on military specification products, simplify the fuel supply chain and save money, Air Force Petroleum Agency researchers will conduct demonstrations to use commercially available jet fuel instead of military standard JP-8 fuel. The demonstrations of Jet A fuel versus JP-8 fuel will occur at Dover Air Force Base, Del.; Little Rock AFB, Ark.; McChord AFB, Wash.; and Minneapolis-St. Paul Air Reserve Station, Minn. Each base has C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III or C-130 Hercules primary-assigned aircraft. According to Master Sgt. Danny Walker, AFPA Jet A initiative program manager, each base will begin issuing Jet A...