Pentagon Hopes to Produce Jet Fuel by Sucking it Out of Air, Reports Say

Reports suggest that small plants the size of cargo containers will be able to produce fuel out of thin air - quite literally - at the US military bases.

The US Defense Department on Tuesday announced a $65Mln contract with a start-up called Air Company that makes fuel from carbon dioxide extracted from the atmosphere. It's part of the Pentagon's attempt to create a decentralized aviation fuel supply chain that allows future US military bases to produce their own fuel, according to American media reports.

"These contracts allow you to focus on the growth of technology and the development of technology," Air Company chief executive Gregory Constantine said as quoted by media.

According to the company, fuel plants the size of cargo containers will supplement or even replace the long and explosive supply chains that at present route fuel to military bases.

Leading air carriers such see such fuel as the primary means of decarbonizing long-haul flights, the source of about 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, even the Pentagon made its own climate commitments, which include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieving "carbon neutrality" by 2050.

In August 2022, US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act for extended tax subsidies to buy electric vehicles which were assembled in the US and to use batteries with domestically produced components. The act was designed to attract investments in these areas and reduce dependence on mainly Chinese technologies.