Rising fuel prices hits Air Force, other services hard

WASHINGTON


“We burn a lot of gas,” acknowledged Assistant Air Force Secretary Bill Anderson, who oversees fuel consumption for the service.

The skyrocketing price of oil is causing a strain on the Defense Department, the largest petroleum consumer in the nation, if not the world. With combat forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. strategists are struggling to keep up with burgeoning fuel costs for a war machine that includes uneconomical fuel-eaters such as ships, tanks, helicopters and an array of fixed-wing aircraft.

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