Air Force officials to use commercial jet fuel to replace military spec fuel: "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 in the next several weeks.
'The actual first Jet A issue dates at each base depend on how quickly existing JP-8 stocks are used,' Sergeant Walker said.
During the demonstration, suppliers can put Jet A fuel into shared pipelines without having to worry about comingling like they had to with JP-8, according to Sergeant Walker. By eliminating the need for a specialty fuel like JP-8 and using a more readily available Jet A, refineries and fuel depots will be able to reduce infrastructure costs and save money which they will be able to pass along to the DOD, Sergeant Walker added.
According to Jim Richardson, from the AFPA, officials estimate the annual savings at $40 million. Savings may increase as the conversion potentially expands across DOD within the CONUS, he added."
