So, the DOD budget in the US is kind of ridiculous as everyone knows. Close to $700 billion a year with the "Wars" going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military goes through 56,000 barrels of oil a day at a price tag of nearly $4 million dollars a day on fuel. Due the math and that is still hardly a scratch of DOD's overall budget, but makes up a decent chunk of the Operations portion.
For aircraft fuel is only part of the equation though. For the UH-60 (aircraft above) it a little more than $2,200 an hour to operate including maintenance and fuel (it burns roughly 160 gallons an hour). My unit will fly over 8,000 hours this year on the deployment. That is a $17.5 million operating budget for around 60 people to do their mission. Kind of crazy huh?
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Yes, and even better, I was told by a guy today they they are required to use E85 for gov't vehicles. Cleaner fuel, yes. Decrease in mileage and significant increase in cost, yes.
Bottom line - when will DOD push out E85 for all rotary and fixed-wing aircraft?
I'm joking of course. Hope you're faring well. Go check the e-mail I sent you a week or so ago.
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