These 40 bundles dropping out of a U.S. Air Force Globemaster III over Afghanistan last December aren't just any supplies, they're filled with liquid fuel. That's right, this is a shot of a gas station operating at 30,000 feet.


If the U.S. Army has to airdrop its Humvees into remote and unfriendly locations, it makes sense for the fuel to arrive the same way, as it does here with these 40 bundles. Cost? About $11 a gallon.


The U.S. Department of Defense announced plans Monday to cut its energy demand, which consumed five billion gallons of oil in 2010, at a cost of $13.2 billion. The military says 80% of the supply missions in Afghanistan were to shuttle fuel, and 3,000 soliders have been wounded or killed between 2003 and 2007 in attacks on fueling convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's not just liquid fuel for vehicles; the DOD estimates by 2012, infantry soliders will be hauling an average of 50 batteries each, weighing about 18 lbs. total, into battle.

Photo: USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Andy Kin