Fuel Costs - USAF to Cut Weapons Research, page 1

A $10 billion deficit in the Pentagon's fuel budget has the bean counters scrambling.

They don't mention how big the fuel budget actually is.

Energy Bulletin

The Pentagon is discovering it's not immune from the high gas prices that have overwhelmed taxpayers' cheque books and dampened summer travel plans across the U.S. Defense Dept. planners are now estimating fuel costs may add as much as $4 billion to what was already expected to be a shortfall of nearly $6 billion in Fiscal 2007 and each year following. This nearly doubles the predicted annual deficit of about $10 billion.

Because USAF operates the bulk of the Defence Dept.'s gas-guzzling aircraft, it generally consumes the largest amount of fuel. Meanwhile, the service is cutting back by $3 billion this fiscal year.

A slew of options to find funding for Fiscal 2007 and beyond are zipping through the Pentagon, including a significant retooling of the $245-billion Joint Strike Fighter program that would radically change USAF's buy and affect the plans of foreign partners. The Army and Marines supporting the Iraq occupation will also surely feel the effects.

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I wonder how much of the rise in US oil consumption these last two years can be attributed to the war machine?
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