They are much higher performance and a much more demanding environment. That was just another risk reduction step to prove the aircraft was not leaking fuel and the engines were behaving nominally. We asked them [the pilots] point-blank if they noticed any difference in performance and they said it was a "non-event". In other words, they couldn't tell the difference. The aircraft behaved the same.

The test this time started with a 50-minute ground test, pushing the engines to full afterburner. In the flight, the pilots put the F-15 to Mach 2.2, approximately 1,450mph. Hopefully, this experiments will also change the civilian airline industry, all in the name of costs and a cool looking environmentally-friendly brochure. [Defense Tech]

Unlike other aircraft fuel efforts, like hydrogen-fueled planes or vodka with Red Bull, the synthetic fuel used in the B-1B is actually derived from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process. The 50% synthetic fuel and 50% petroleum gases mixture, however, is as capable as regular fuel, feeding with ease the B-1B's four General Electric F101-GE-102 augmented turbofans and pushing the variable sweep-winged bomber at Mach 1.25 to its objective, where it can launch AGM-69A short-range nuclear missiles, drop 24 Mk84 bombs or spread a lot of good will and clean air.

According to the USAF, the fuel is still under test after trying it successfully in this B-1B and the subsonic B-52 Stratofortress. They are aiming "to have every aircraft using synthetic fuel blends by 2011," according to Maj. Don Rhymer from the Air Force Alternative Fuels Certification Office. My favorite quote, however, comes from Captain Rick Fournier, the B-1B commander:

It's great to be part of an Air Force initiative that is also helping the environment, Captain Fournier said. "Using a fuel that is cheaper and cleaner ... what could be better?"

Rick, if Senator McCarthy was still around, you would be in jail by now. Damn you hippies in the military! Damn you! [Military.com, Boeing and Wikipedia]