The U.K.’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has successfully completed a flight test of a giant military transport aircraft powered entirely by renewable fuel—used cooking oil.
The RAF has completed a 100 percent sustainable fuel flight using a military transport aircraft of this size, which is a world first for any aircraft type and the first of its kind in Britain, according to a press release by the U.K. government on Friday.
“They should be rightly proud of this achievement; it is a breakthrough moment for the RAF and an exciting development for the MOD [Ministry of Defense],” said Baroness Goldie, the U.K.’s defence minister.
“Through the RAF’s pioneering spirit, expertise, and partnership with U.K. industry, British science and engineering are leading the way in improving operational resilience and developing future operating capability in a climate-changed world.”
The RAF Voyager, the military version of the Airbus A330, recently flew over Oxfordshire while using only sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), presenting a number of possibilities for the future of aviation for both military and civilian aircraft.
When compared to conventional jet fuel, the lifecycle carbon emissions of sustainable aviation fuel, which is made from waste-based sustainable feedstocks such as used cooking oil, are often up to 80% lower.
