An F-15 Eagle pilot assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron moves into position to receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker during a training mission over Eastern Romania in 2007. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
An F-15 Eagle pilot assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron moves into position to receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker during a training mission over Eastern Romania in 2007. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
An F-15 Eagle pilot receives fuel from a 351st Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 Stratotanker during a training mission over Eastern Romania in 2007. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
While coal and natural gas are alternative fuels being used to help power military jets, Department of Defense and civilian airline officials believe the future may be in biofuels.
Air Force and airline officials said they want to develop alternative types of fuel to decrease their dependence on foreign oil. As part of that effort, three types of Air Force aircraft — the B-1, B-52 and C-17 — are certified to fly on a mixture of 50 percent conventional fuel and either 50 percent coal or 50 percent natural gas.
The Air Force has also flown B-2s, KC-135s, F-15s, F-22s as well as T-38 trainers on the 50-50 blends, and those aircraft are in the process of being certified to use those fuels, said Gary Strasburg, Air Force chief of environmental public affairs. Officials from the other branches could not be reached for comment.
"Developing these kinds of fuels from items that are available in the United States makes us less vulnerable," Strasburg said. "We have a goal of having all aircraft in the Air Force certified to be able to fly on a 50-50 blend of synthetic fuel by 2011."
But the military is also exploring the potential of using biofuels, which can be derived from plants, corn husks and algae. The Pentagon is working with the civilian airline industry as part of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, Strasburg said.
The initiative involves the airlines and military sharing good ideas and information on biofuels, Strasburg said.
"This whole thing really got enabled by the work that DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) started three years ago," said Darrin Morgan, director of sustainable biofuels strategy for Boeing. "They started asking the question, could plant oil be turned into good jet fuel?"
DARPA’s goal is to create nonpetroleum sources to power aircraft, ground vehicles and non-nuclear ships, Barbara McQuiston, director of DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office and program manager for biofuels, said in an American Forces Press Service release.
Boeing was interested in the idea and started working with airlines to develop biofuels, Morgan said. Continental Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines have tested various blends of biofuels on short flights without having to modify those test aircraft.
"We think that commercial quantities of biofuels could be available in three to five years. I think you will see the first commercial flights sooner than that," Morgan said.
On a test flight in January, Continental Airlines flew a jetliner from its Houston headquarters over the Gulf of Mexico with one engine running on a biofuel mixture of jatropha plants and oil derived from algae.
"There was no discernible performance difference or how the engine (with the biofuel) appeared afterwards. It was just like regular fuel," said David Messing, Continental’s director of communications.
"If [biofuels] can help to increase the overall fuel supply and provide an alternate source of fuel, it contributes at least from an American standpoint to achieving a greater degree of energy independence," Messing said.
