Dyess to conduct Air Force's first supersonic flight with synthetic fue

Published: Mar 18, 2008
Source: www.dyess.af.mil



DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- A Dyess B-1 Bomber is scheduled to be the Air Force's first aircraft to fly at supersonic speed on March 19 using a 50/50 blend of synthetic and petroleum fuel.

The supersonic flight will occur over the White Sands Missile Range airspace in South-central New Mexico, but the B-1 will take off and land at Dyess.

The Air Force is currently in the process of evaluating and certifying this alternative fuel, derived from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process, for all Air Force aircraft. The project is on track for completion in early 2011. In August, the service certified the B-52 Stratofortress, the first aircraft to use the fuel, and flew the C-17 Globemaster III with the fuel in October.

Within the federal government, the Air Force is the single largest user of aviation fuel - about 3 billion gallons per year. Every time the price of fuel goes up $10, it costs $600 million for the Air Force. The innovative approach to find domestically-produced alternative fuels should lead to lower total fuel costs and help alleviate dependence on foreign energy sources.

Alternative fuels can be produced from domestically available hydrocarbon products like natural gas, coal and shale, and then gasified and converted into any number of liquid fuel products.

FT fuels are also proven to burn cleaner, reducing combustion-related emissions and particulates in the air.

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