The Royal Air Drive has used a mix of sustainable aviation gas (SAF) with regular jet gas on routine operations for the primary time.
Plane together with Storm and Poseidon submarine hunters, working from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, have been utilizing a mix of typical and SAF in an obvious first for the air power.
Throughout November 2023 to February 2024 4 million litres of blended SAF have been delivered to the Royal Air Drive via a contract with World Gas Companies. An extra 5 million 100 and fifty thousand litres of gas are being delivered over the interval July to October 2024.
The gas is used to energy plane working from Lossiemouth in Morayshire, northern Scotland. RAF Lossiemouth is likely one of the UK’s busiest RAF stations and is house to Storm plane who’re able to deploy 24/7, 365 as a part of the UK’s Fast Response Alert – retaining Britain safe.
Sustainable gas sources embody hydrogenated fat and oils, wooden waste, alcohols, sugars, family waste, biomass and algae.
Aviation at present accounts for practically two thirds of gas used throughout defence.
In 2020, the MoD up to date aviation gas requirements to permit as much as 50% sustainable sources for use in gas mixes for defence plane. The RAF has been trialling several types of gas since then. In November 2021, an RAF pilot flew a microlight plane powered by artificial gas created from air and water, described as a world-first. In Spring 2022, a drone was flown on artificial kerosene made by genetically modified micro organism. The RAF has additionally examined an electrical plane flown at RAF Cranwell.
In November 2022, an RAF Voyager trialled the usage of 100% SAF, flying for 90-minutes from RAF Brize Norton, mentioned to be a world first for a wide-bodied navy plane, a joint endeavour between the RAF, DE&S and trade companions Airbus, AirTanker and Rolls-Royce, with the gas provided by Air bp.
In 2023, the Royal Air Drive used SAF to attain the primary SAF mix air-to-air refuelling of a Storm and C-130 Hercules plane. This was adopted by the RAF’s show storm being powered on blended SAF at this 12 months’s Royal Worldwide Air Tattoo, the primary time this plane has exhibited to the general public on this gas.
