Technology Options for Improved Air Vehicle Fuel Efficiency: Executive Summary and Annotated Brief

As crude oil prices and worldwide competition for fuel continue to increase, there are added pressures on the United States to simultaneously conserve fuel as well as seek new sources of energy for power generation and transportation systems. Within the U.S. military, increasing costs of fuel directly affect the ability to carry out military missions. Hence it is imperative that the Department of Defense, and the Air Force in particular (as the largest consumer of fuel within the DoD), explore ways in which improved fuel efficiency as well as alternative sources of fuel may be realized. The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board was thus tasked by the Air Force leadership to perform a quick look study exploring potential scientific and technological solutions that could impact energy and fuel efficiency. This report, consisting of an executive summary and annotated briefing with an elaboration of additional promising technologies (Appendix E), is intended to provide a complete discussion on the background, issues, findings, and recommendations from the study, which focused primarily on air vehicles.