VSE Unit Wins FT Fuels Research & Testing Contract With USAF

Alexandria, VA - Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation (ICRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of VSE Corporation, recently announced the award of a U.S. Air Force subcontract supporting the Advanced Power Technology Office (APTO) to research, demonstrate and sustain the incorporation of Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) fuel in diesel engines. Under a two-year subcontract agreement with Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), ICRC will provide technical support to facilitate the testing of ultra-clean F-T fuel blended with conventional petroleum-derived JP-8. This 50:50 blend will be evaluated in base storage facilities, Air Force ground support equipment, and Air Force ground vehicles. Potential ICRC revenues under the subcontract are estimated to be $1.38 M over a two year period.

The longer-term goal of the broader Defense Assured Fuels Initiative, which this project supports, is to ultimately use unblended F-T fuel in virtually all military equipment in future decades. One of the main advantages of F-T fuel is that it can be produced using US domestic resources like natural gas, coal, and biomass. The use of F-T fuels can potentially reduce our dependency on foreign sources of energy. Starting now with an F-T/JP-8 fuel-blend minimizes risks, while making it possible for the U.S. military to utilize whatever quantities of F-T fuel are likely to become available within the next several years, thus improving the Department of Defense's knowledge base of synthetic fuels as early as possible.

ICRC has established a successful record in alternative fuels research and testing, including several contract agreements with the Department of Energy and the Federal Transit Administration, some of which involved the production, testing and demonstration of F-T diesel fuel. ICRC has previously evaluated the usage of the ultra-clean fuel in transit buses and other diesel vehicles in Fairbanks, Alaska, Washington, DC and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"ICRC is committed to finding alternative fuel, and we are excited to be a part of this research and demonstration project," said ICRC President Carl Williams. "We have assembled a project management team that possesses technical and managerial experience in military operations to facilitate alternative fuels research."

Research, demonstration and testing will take place at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan. ICRC will install its on-board data acquisition system to accumulate engine operational data from the engines' electronic control systems over the duration of the evaluation period.

SOURCE: Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation