On Thursday, the Air Force expects to conduct the first flight of an aircraft powered solely by a biomass-derived jet fuel blend. An A-10 airplane is scheduled to take off from Eglin AFB, Fla., with both of its engines running on a hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) fuel that is a mixture of conventional JP-8 jet fuel and oil from the camelina plant, which is related to cabbage and broccoli. “This demonstration underscores our commitment to advancing technologies that increase our use of renewable energy and reduce our consumption of imported foreign oil,” said Terry Yonkers, USAF’s new logistics czar, in a service release. This test aims to pave the way for HRJ certification flight tests with the C-17, F-15, and F-22 starting this summer. Already those platforms have been cleared to run on another alternative fuel blend consisting of half JP-8 and half paraffinic synthetic kerosene.
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.