In re Greg’s earlier post on the F-18’s biofuel test flight, Navy Bob writes in wryly:

I was there when the Green Hornet flew today, and the 50-50 biofuel mix burned superbly. Thanks to the excellent work of our fuel-certification engineers, there was no doubt that it would. They checked it thoroughly for spec and pronounced it functionally equivalent to JP-5. But even though SECNAV maintains that the Navy “will continue to be an early adopter of alternative energy sources,” he might take a closer look at the price tag.
The press release says that the Defense Energy Support Center, which buys fuel for the military, paid $2.7 million for 40,000 gallons of the biofuel. That works out to $67.50 a gallon, although the official Navy fact sheet says the cost was only $33 a gallon. Still, next to the $1.40 a gallon cost of petroleum-derived JP-5, it’s not exactly a bargain — worse even than buying gas in Europe.
Maybe we can cut back on body armor to pay for it . . .

EDITOR’S NOTE: This item has been amended since its initial posting.