Greening the Military

Army, Defense, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, Opinions, Policy

January 19, 2016

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by Sara Stefanini (Politico) Getting fuel into a war zone can be deadly. One soldier is killed on average for every 24 convoys sent across the mountains and deserts of Pakistan to supply foreign troops in Afghanistan.

That’s why some of the world’s biggest militaries want to replace some of that diesel and gasoline with power generated by solar panels, wind turbines and rechargeable batteries. It’s not about saving the planet, it’s about making it safer and cheaper for troops to complete their central mission: defeating the enemy.

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Fuel is typically airdropped, shipped or trucked into remote and risky areas, often mid-combat. That forces more troops into war zones, with the sole job of delivering fuel and standing guard while it’s pumped into planes, tanks and ships. In Afghanistan, around 3,000 American soldiers were killed or wounded in attacks on fuel and water convoys between 2003 and 2007, according to NATO.

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The risks there were so high that, according to Ducaru (Sorin Ducaru, NATO’s assistant general for emerging security challenges and a former Romanian ambassador to the alliance), carrying one gallon of fuel into the war zone cost the equivalent of up to five gallons. It also burned four gallons in transportation. READ MORE

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