In early January, the Air Force conducted a flight demonstration with a B-2A stealth bomber running, for the first time ever, on the synthetic fuel blend that the service wants all of its aircraft capable of operating on next year. The demo involved an operational B-2 flying a training sortie from Whiteman AFB, Mo., Jeff Braun, director of USAF’s alternative fuel certification office, told the Daily Report Tuesday. This fuel blend is a 50-50 mix of traditional JP-8 jet fuel and synthetic paraffinic kerosene. Braun said the aircraft fully certified to date for “unrestricted operations” with the SPK blend are: the B-1B, B-52H, C-17, C-130J, F-4 (USAF still flies QF-4 target drones), F-15 (Eagles and Strike Eagles), F-22, and T-38. The A-10, C-5, C-130 (legacy), F-16, and KC-135 have flown with the fuel blend, but are not yet certified.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.