Army civil engineers began a $9 million underground pipeline project at Altus AFB, Okla., to channel JP-8 fuel directly to the flight line from the base’s fuel storage farm, announced base officials in a release. “We’re putting [in] roughly 14,500 linear feet of eight-inch steel pipe to connect the south tank fuel farm to the north fuel farm,” said Randy Tisdell, Army Corps of Engineers project manager at the Jan. 23 groundbreaking. Since Altus’ underground system was decommissioned in 2005 because of cracking and seepage, trucking fuel to the flight line has required an average of 1,562 deliveries and 780 man-hours a year, according to Altus’ Jan. 24 release. Restoring the underground supply will “save us money and it will be saving us manpower,” noted Bron Howard, 97th Civil Engineering Squadron engineering chief. Construction is scheduled to be completed in May 2014, states the release. (Altus report by A1C Levin Boland)
The Air Force could conduct an operation like Israel's successful air campaign against Iran's nuclear sites, military leadership and air defenses, but readiness issues would make it risky, airpower experts said. Limited spare parts and training, low mission capable rates and few flying hours would put a drag on USAF's…