Grissom completes fuel hydrant system
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Grissom Air Reserve Base has completed a $35 million project that has been nine years in the making. The base says its new fuel hydrant system, which replaces one that had been in operation since the 1950s, is now online.
Design work for the project began in 2012 and crews broke ground in 2015. Grissom says the Type III Hydrant Fuel System provides a high-tech, digital platform to fuel aircraft at the base.
Grissom says the new system has a flow capacity of 600 gallons of fuel per minute, which can fuel four aircraft in the same parking row. The system is also designed to automatically turn on the pumps needed to maintain the required pressure.
An added benefit of the system is fuel delivery trucks no longer need to come onto the base and helps eliminate the potential for fuel spills.
“Facilitating off-load of commercial tanker trucks from outside the installation’s perimeter has obvious security benefits,” Lt. Col. Matt Garvelink, 434th Security Forces Squadron commander at Grissom, said in a news release. “Anytime we can create extra stand-off between Grissom assets vehicles with 50,000lbs of jet fuel, it’s a good option.”
Grissom says the Air Force has also removed aged underground storage tanks at the base.