The Air Force declares that the Fischer-Tropsch fuel blend is OK for operational B-52H use. The service completed testing a mix of FT and JP-8 on a B-52 bomber—selecting it as first test subject because it has eight engines—and already has started testing the 50-50 blend on a C-17 airlifter. USAF now expects by 2011 to have tested and certified every aircraft type to fly with a domestically produced synfuel. (Read The Fuel War.)
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…