Future initiatives discussed during fuel efficiency summit

Published Feb. 24, 2011
By 1st Lt. Kathleen Ferrero
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Air Mobility Command helped set the course for cultural change during a fuel efficiency summit here that included participation by 11 Air Force major commands Feb. 16 to 17.

AMC hosted the summit to share and collaborate on ideas and initiatives that will help better fuel efficiency across the Air Force.

Energy security is the motivation, said Dr. Kevin Geiss, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Energy. The Air Force is the largest consumer of energy in the Federal government and uses 60 percent of fuel consumed by the Department of Defense.

"You have to have the power when and where you need it, and you have to have sufficient power," Doctor Geiss said. "If it's not sufficient, then you'll have mission degradation."

A more fuel-efficient Air Force is better prepared to face the rising costs that historical indicators project, the doctor said during the summit at Scott AFB.

"We've already bought into risk for the future. The question is -- what are we going to about it?" Doctor Geiss said.

AMC is currently working on approximately 65 potential fuel savings initiatives. Some of what they have done was highlighted to the attendees of the fuel efficiency summit.

"I will tell you, in the last hour and a half, sitting here during the AMC brief, there are four initiatives you all are doing that we can use right now," said Col. Greg Petrequin, from the Directorate of Air, Space and Information Operations at Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on information he plans on taking away from the summit.

Initiatives that attendees learned more about from the summit included data collection, operational efficiencies and new technologies.

Charting a new course

In 2008, AMC invited Reservists who work as airline pilots to share their best practices in fuel efficiency. The airline perspective immediately identified a need for more data, said AMC Fuel Efficiency Office Chief Col. Bobby Fowler.

"One of the things we found out was we really didn't have a lot of the data to depict how much fuel we were burning during our missions," Colonel Fowler said. AMC knew how much fuel its aircraft were taking off and landing with, but "we didn't know what all of the drivers were behind that fuel."

Colonel Fowler encouraged attendees to start collecting data any way they can.

"We're doing this manually on the backs of our crews and our maintainers," Colonel Fowler said to attendees.

He said it's tedious but the right thing to do. The result has been better clarity of the drivers behind fuel burn and ways to conserve, such as a new flight planning concept called "Mission Index Flying," he said. The concept is similar to a process the airlines use called "Cost Index Flying".

With "Cost Index Flying," civilian airlines have real-time visibility of the variables affecting a flight -- such as scheduled arrival time, weather, air speed, flight paths and cargo weight -- and can manipulate missions throughout the day to conserve fuel, achieving a savings of approximately 2 to 5 percent, Colonel Fowler said.

A similar mission index flying system could help the Air Force save as well. At the cost of $3.03 per gallon, just one percent fuel savings within the mobility air forces could lead to saving $42 million per year.

Operational effectiveness

Shedding or rearranging even the most miniscule component on an aircraft can also lead to big savings by reducing drag.

"This is one initiative that could definitely apply to heavy aircraft in other commands," said Col. Todd Boyd, chief of the Air Combat Command Flight Operations Division at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

For example, replacing aerodynamic seals on the C-5 Galaxy; remounting windshield wipers on a KC-10 Extender; or redesigning a flare dispenser on the C-130 Hercules could save millions of gallons of fuel over the life of the aircraft, saving that money for other missions, Colonel Fowler said.

However, it's different for fighter aircraft, Colonel Boyd said.

"What we're worried about for fighter aircraft is ensuring we're getting the most training for the fuel used. We're going to take off and land generally with the same amount of fuel each time; so we're focusing on using that amount of fuel to get the best training."

Doctor Geiss said it's not just a matter of saving fuel. "If we can get more productivity out of every drop of fuel that we have, then that's a benefit in itself."

Investing in upgrades

One way to get more productivity out of existing fuel is through upgrades to the existing fleet.

Getting new technologies out of the lab and into aircraft more quickly would catalyze fuel efficiency, according to an Air Force Materiel Command representative from the Acquisition; Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Energy Steering Group.

By upgrading existing weapons systems to become lighter and more aerodynamic and retrofitting them with better engines, the Air Force can increase its fuel supply, Lt. Col. Michelle Ewy said during the summit.

The C-130 engine modification could help the Air Force avoid up to $2.7 billion in maintenance and other costs generated by the old engine, for example. Also, current modifications to the C-5 Galaxy fleet have enabled the C-5M "Super Galaxy" to fly more than 200,000 pounds of cargo halfway around the world without aerial refueling, providing greater lift capability on each sortie. It costs approximately $27 per gallon to aerial refuel.

However, the bottom line is mission accomplishment.

"Our first priority is to be effective. We can't tell the customer we're not going to show up tomorrow," said Lt. Gen. Rusty Findley, AMC vice commander. "But that doesn't relieve us one iota from doing everything as efficiently as we can.

"We need to continue to make good, smart moves and changes to keep up with the world. We can help and do our part if we all bond together here and work the problem at hand," General Findley said.