News

New Global Hawk fuel storage tank brought online

  • Published
  • By Jonathan Bell
  • Robins Public Affairs

The 78th Fuels Management Flight at Robins Air Force Base has been supporting maintenance on the RQ-4 Global Hawk since the spring of 2017. During a ribbon cutting ceremony Sept. 10, 2018, Team Robins officials dedicated a new fuel tank proclaiming and celebrating yet another sign of the continued growth and improved mission readiness at the base. 

The new fuel support tank will allow the flight to increase its support of the Global Hawk mission at Robins today and into the future. 

Col. Earl Layne, 78th Mission Support Group commander, said the flight was 100 percent successful in supporting the Global Hawk prior to the tank installation; however, those previous operations were sometimes a bit disjointed, “… but this tank makes it a better process. It makes the fueling process more streamlined for a more refined and easier system to deal with, which is in the spirit of Team Robins.”

The new tank provides a fixed facility and uninterrupted fuel support to the Global Hawk.  Before, the Fuels Flight could only take a partial-tank, now the base can receive a full tanker truck of fuel, which reduces costs and also reduces the amount of man-hours required.

“It’s another win for not only Team Robins, but for the Middle Georgia community as a whole,” Layne added.

The Global Hawk mission is extremely critical due to its capabilities in support of the full spectrum of military operations, from combat operations to humanitarian missions and environmental research.

Senior Airman Matthew Hall, 78th Fuels Management Flight, explained why the new tank is important from his perspective.

“It’s a big improvement for our shop, it makes our mission a lot easier and helps us get fuel out to the Global Hawk faster,” he said.

The fuel tank will increase the base’s on-hand fuel inventory of specific fuel required by the Global Hawk by 300 percent from 6,000 gallons in a single tank to 18,000 gallons.

“We are supporting Global Hawk by keeping it in the air and enabling it to do its job in support of warfighters whether it be contingency operations or peacetime operations,” said Layne.