Grissom completes 'flawless' transition to commercial fuel

by Staff Sgt. Ben Mota
434th ARW Public Affairs

12/16/2014 - GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- The smell of jet fuel in the morning remains the same, but something different is putting thrust behind Grissom's tankers.

Following an Air Force cost savings initiative, Grissom Air Reserve Base transitioned from JP-8, a jet fuel used specifically by the Department of Defense since the late 1970's to Jet-A, a commercial grade jet fuel.

"The primary reason for the conversion from JP-8 to Jet-A was to save the Air Force money," said Matt Snyder, Grissom's contracted fuels manager. "Jet-A is approximately two cents cheaper because it does not require segregated transportation and storage and is open to competitive sourcing."

While two cents at the pump does not sound like a lot, it adds up quickly, explained Snyder.

"During fiscal year 2014 Grissom's tankers used approximately 4.8 million gallons of fuel and transferred another 2.9 million gallons of fuel during aerial refueling," he said. "That adds up to a savings of $154,000 per year."

While the amount of jet fuel Grissom uses changes annually, one thing that remained the same was the maintenance to the aircraft.

"The transition from JP-8 to Jet-A was flawless," said Chief Master Sgt. Chad Weisend, 434th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron superintendent. "The new fuel looks, smells and functions exactly the same as the old jet fuel and did not require any changes to the maintenance of the aircraft."

Despite the similarities between JP-8 and Jet-A, additives have to be mixed in to bring the commercial fuel to military specifications.

"Antistatic additives, a corrosion inhibitor and an icing inhibitor are added to Jet-A prior to it arriving here," explained Snyder.

After the fuel arrives at Grissom it undergoes a series of quality control checks to ensure the fuel meets military specifications.

"Since we've began receiving the new fuel we have conducted routine quality control inspections without any issues," he added. "The fuels are interchangeable so the transition was simple."

According to the Defense Logistics Agency, the Air Force purchases more than one billion gallons of fuel annually within the continental United States, therefore the transition will save the Air Force an estimated $25.5 million in annual fuel costs and will help eliminate excess infrastructure, provide energy security and create operational flexibility for the Department of Defense.

Grissom is home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing, the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command, as well as three Army Reserve units. Airmen, Soldiers and Marines routinely deploy from Grissom around the world in support of the Department of Defense mission and U.S. strategic objectives.