Oil prices reshape how Air Force flies, trains

[unhappycamper]

Oil prices reshape how Air Force flies, trains
By Vago Muradian - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 15, 2008 6:12:44 EDT

When the Air Force leadership met in June, the top agenda item was how to make the service more fuel-efficient, a drive that will change how the world’s leading user of fossil fuels flies, trains and even fights.

“At the end of the day, we’re about getting the mission done,” Gen. Michael Moseley, then the service’s chief of staff, said during the conference at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. “But jet fuel is $162 a barrel and going up, so we’ve got to be smarter about how we do it.”

The soaring price of oil is a big deal for an organization that spends some $13 billion annually to power its force. As a rule of thumb, each 1 percent increase in jet fuel prices costs the service $23 million a year.

For comparison’s sake, the Air Force consumes as much fuel as United, American and Delta airlines combined. The largest chunk — 42 percent — is burned by hundreds of transport and tanker planes. The service’s transport arm, the Air Mobility Command, uses $6 billion in fuel each year, more than United.

Newer planes would be more fuel-efficient, but today’s Air Force is running older planes for much longer than anticipated, with only cloudy replacement plans.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/07/federal_fuel_prices_071408/



uhc comment: Let's talk a bit about plane prices.

In WW II one of the hottest US aircraft was the P-51 Mustang. It cost around $69,000.

In Viet Nam, the front line fighter was the F-4 Phantom. It cost around $4,000,000.

In the 1980's the premier fighter was the F-14 Tomcat. It cost around $14,000,000.

Today, the top of the line kickass airplane is the F-22 Raptor. It cost $355,000,000.

The runner up for the stealth sweepstakes is the F-35 Lightning (Joint Strike Fighter). It cost $239,000,000.


Note: The F-22 and F-35 $$$$ are documented in the Veterans forum.