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Flowerpower F-15 Breaks Mach 2, USAF to Start Painting Planes with Rainbows
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 9:54 PM on August 22, 2008
The USAF keeps pushing forward the race towards cleaner skies--and leaner warmachine and potential global mayhem costs--moving from pure oil-derived fuel to a mixture between oil and synthetic fuel. The new benchmark is not a B1 bomber, which they already put through its paces using a similar mix, but a fighter jet: They broke the Mach 2 barrier using the new fuel mix in an F-15, which according to the Air Force is a crucial step:
They are much higher performance and a much more demanding environment. That was just another risk reduction step to prove the aircraft was not leaking fuel and the engines were behaving nominally. We asked them [the pilots] point-blank if they noticed any difference in performance and they said it was a "non-event". In other words, they couldn't tell the difference. The aircraft behaved the same.
The test this time started with a 50-minute ground test, pushing the engines to full afterburner. In the flight, the pilots put the F-15 to Mach 2.2, approximately 2,350mph. Hopefully, this experiments will also change the civilian airline industry, all in the name of costs and a cool looking environmentally-friendly brochure. [Defense Tech]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
abs inc
Posted August 25, 2008 11:47 AM
NUKIN' your existence... The environment friendly way!!
abs inc
Posted August 25, 2008 11:51 AM
Customize your death.....
1. NUKE from B2 bomber - $0 (Uses regular gasoline that kills)
- Add to CART
2. Upgrade to NUKE from F15 Bomber - Add $2000 (Uses the environment friendly flower fuel...choosing this option allows you to save the environment... But YOU DIE ANYWAYS!!! Do something good before you die....Mwa ha ha ha)
- Add to CART
DustyButt
Posted 10:23 PM 22/8/08
From what I know jet turbine combustion produses CO & H2O.
Like max_k said this isn't about cleaner skies it's about a synth fuel that eases the environmental strain during production.
DustyButt
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 10:15 PM 22/8/08
@Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): If it involves it being able to hit mach 2, I'm all for it.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 10:14 PM 22/8/08
@max_k: I like your point of view, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
Posted 10:14 PM 22/8/08
They're using thirty year old aircraft to test this? Does this mean we'll soon see a hybrid conversion for Plymouth station wagons?
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
max_k
Posted 10:09 PM 22/8/08
I think what this really is the military realizing that if there's every a really big war in the Middle East they're going to be SOL trying to fuel their planes, tanks, etc. The fact that they can spin this as "green" is gravy, but they want to know that they can use some substitute for oil (or at least lower their consumption) if the fecal matter ever really impacts the rotating airflow enhancement device.
max_k
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 10:03 PM 22/8/08
I love how we're so concerned about the exhaust our military vehicles spit out, but not about the depleted uranium and lead they shoot out the front. Of course, I believe if it works, don't fix it.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
DustyButt
Posted 10:55 PM 22/8/08
@Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): Not quite the wagon but it has 20lbs of twin turbo goodness, and does the quarter mile in well under 13 seconds... It's the PERFECT sleeper!
DustyButt
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
Posted 10:36 PM 22/8/08
@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:
Mach 2 in a Plymouth station wagon? ...Now THAT would be interesting.
"Chewie. Take the Metallic Pea into hyperspace!"
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
helldiver
Posted 11:18 PM 22/8/08
note the pilot talk: "non-event"
Sounds cool, even though as an answer to "Have you noticed any change in performance?", it makes absolutely no sense.
But I'm going to start using it too.
"Helldiver, how is this urgent project going?"
"Non-event."
helldiver
lldsandsll
Posted 11:09 PM 22/8/08
@Uberdude328i: i was thinkin the same thing. more than 2X faster than sound.
neo: whoa
lldsandsll
SigmundTheSeaMonster
Posted 11:08 PM 22/8/08
@Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): I was thinking more like the AMC Pacer.
SigmundTheSeaMonster
Uberdude328i
Posted 10:58 PM 22/8/08
One thousand four hundred and fifty miles per hour. It just sounds AWESOME to say that!
@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: I think it's more about costs of production. Sure it might be more expensive to refine RIGHT NOW, but if they do this for X years there has to be some sort of ROI. Wait, I just used ROI in reference to the military. I'm losing it...
Uberdude328i
jak0b
Posted 11:39 PM 22/8/08
If they wanted the planes to fly faster and greener why didn't they just colour it black with flames or lightning bolts? - everyone knows that painted flames will make any vehicle 10 to 15% faster and lightning bolts 15 to 20%...
jak0b
ps61318
Posted 11:39 PM 22/8/08
@helldiver: Yes. Why, when asked "Have you noticed any change in performace?", could the pilot not simply have said "No" or perhaps "No, sir!"?
@DustyButt: @Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): My car wouldn't do Mach 2 if you dropped it from high orbit and somehow evaded terminal velocity.
ps61318
TerryinSt.Paul
Posted 11:30 PM 22/8/08
Woo hoo! Now we can save the planet and blow it up all at once.
TerryinSt.Paul
TonyRockyHorror
Posted 12:35 AM 23/8/08
@Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): your argument that this is a 30-year old aircraft is kind of irrelevant. the F-15 has gotten continuous upgrades and updates throughout it's lifespan, and is STILL the front-line fighter jet in the world. while the F-22 is slowly coming into service, the F-15 is still the workhorse of the USAF, and if the fuel tech is proven as effective in it, then it proves the tech is feasible across a wide range of flight operations.
TonyRockyHorror
Log1c
Posted 12:14 AM 23/8/08
@jak0b: Also stickers add horsepower. Should have just coated it in NOS stickers.
Log1c
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
Posted 12:55 AM 23/8/08
@TonyRockyHorror:
Curses! Your logical and academic counterpoint had thwarted my off the cuff snark! You win the day, sir.
Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious)
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 12:41 AM 23/8/08
@Log1c: And you have to put the name of the vehicle on the windshield/cockpit glass. Also, anything written in oriental script gives you a 1d12 percentage of going faster.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
aec007
Posted 1:13 AM 23/8/08
- Base this is Tango-Charlie-Alpha-3
- Come in TCA-3, we read you.
- Engines at full, contrails are clean, without polution, this is one sweet clean ride!.
- 10-4 TCA-3!
- Weapons are hot, target locked, NUKES on target, permisson to drop...
- 10-4 TAC-3 Drop "package".
... so much for clean skies....
aec007
JChristopher
Posted 1:47 AM 23/8/08
@ps61318: Yes joshing but also a relevant point. If the motor explodes it is better it happens in the old heap than the new carbon toy.
JChristopher
LittleJon
Posted 1:46 AM 23/8/08
Towards the end of WWII, Germany was producing synthetic fuel in an attempt to over-come their limited oil supplies. As Max_k says, the USAF's objective here are similar.
LittleJon
JJ910
Posted 1:43 AM 23/8/08
That VirginGalactic dude reached Mach 4 in his privately built jet in 18 months. WTF!!!!!!!!! 2.2 is a joke. Go to New Mexico and see for yoruself. They are beyond the 4,000 mph speed as of 2 months ago.
JJ910
Log1c
Posted 1:43 AM 23/8/08
@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Olde English makes it a d20.
Log1c
ps61318
Posted 1:41 AM 23/8/08
@TonyRockyHorror: It wasn't an argument. It was a statement. For all you know she was implying "They're using thirty year old aircraft to test this? That's amazing, and awesome - extending the life of the world's best fighter is a great thing."
You have expropriated her comment for your own soap box speech.
And I think she was kind of joshing.
ps61318
ps61318
Posted 1:38 AM 23/8/08
@Miranda Kali (Desperate But Not Serious): You're...mocking him, aren't you.
ps61318
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 2:11 AM 23/8/08
@JChristopher: Try explaining that to Goose's wife.
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
ps61318
Posted 2:16 AM 23/8/08
@JChristopher: On a side note - Did you know that this is why McDonnell Douglas never made a plane with only one engine? The company would never allow the failure of one engine to have a plane drop from the sky.
Of course there was that DC10 incident in Chicago a number of years ago....
ps61318
ideaman2020
Posted 2:59 AM 23/8/08
How about some rocket fuel?
From the Scaled Composites site [www.scaled.com]
Seriously. Rubber & N2O FTW!
ideaman2020
ps61318
Posted 3:24 AM 23/8/08
@ideaman2020: Rubber and nitrous oxide? Sounds like a date I had once....
ps61318
ideaman2020
Posted 4:20 AM 23/8/08
@ps61318: Youch!!
ideaman2020
vinnyr
Posted 4:11 AM 23/8/08
even killing machines, that send other killing machines burning in flames, crashing to the ground then blowing up, have gone green! Who would have known! Now they should make flame-throwers, artillery guns, and nuclear bombs go green!
vinnyr
ps61318
Posted 5:04 AM 23/8/08
@vinnyr: I think if you mix in some copper, then the flames all go green....
ps61318
heckfm
Posted 10:46 PM 22/8/08
The aircraft used was an F-15E, so it wasnt' 30 years old, and 50,000 feet at Mach 2.2 is still as fast as any fighter currently flying. The synthetic fuel is produced using the Fischer Trope process and is made from natural gas or coal, a process first developed in Germany just prior to WWII. Improved efficiency in the process makes it a viable option now, and it reduces our reliance on foreign sources of oil, most of whom don't particularly like us.
heckfm