Tanker Fuel Efficiency: Saving Through Receiver Fuel Planning

Abstract : The Department of Defense (DOD) has made significant budget cuts, necessitating initiative, innovation and efficiency. The DOD is the largest consumer of fuel in the world. Jet fuel accounts for almost 3/4ths of this fuel, most being used by Air Mobility Command (AMC). A large portion of AMC's missions involve air refueling, an inherently fuel inefficient process. Adhering to the most accurate fuel plan will remove extra fuel from the tanker, lowering the tanker's weight, and reducing fuel expended and increasing the life of the tanker. Through analyzing and altering air refueling mission, the Air Force will achieve a fuel savings. This research identifies which receivers drive higher costs due to fuel inefficiency. The missions analyzed were conducted in Fiscal Year 2012. Qualitative data was extracted from the AMC Fuel Tracker and manipulated in Excel. Deployed operations have not been included due to the dynamic planning involved in combat operations. Each tanker mission was categorized by mission design series (MDS) and then examined to determine MDS effect of planned versus actual offloaded fuel. This analysis is noteworthy because the results explain an area of fuel inefficiency in AMC's tanker fleet.