Mercury Marine Developing Alternative Fuel Engines For U.S. Military
Mercury Marine Developing Alternative Fuel Engines For U.S. Military
FOND DU LAC, Wisc. -- May 7, '03 -- Mercury Marine will soon be supplying alternative fuel marine engines for the U.S. Military. The development of specialized marine engines is in response to a recent directive by the Department of Defense that it will cease the transportation of gasoline on ships or aircraft by 2010.
Mercury's Racing division has created a 3.0 Liter V-6, 2-cycle low-emission OptiMax outboard that runs on JP5 class jet fuel. The engine is based on the Mercury Racing OptiMax 250XS, the world's fastest low-emission outboard. Mercury Racing is also developing a SportJet model which features the same 3.0 Liter powerhead coupled to a Mercury Marine M2 jet pump. Jeff Krueger, Director of Mercury Government Sales said, "We have been working very closely with the Defense Department over the last year to provide both outboard motors and Sport Jet propulsion systems that will run on JP5 fuel. This fuel is significantly less volatile than gasoline and is readily available in the fleet. Mercury Marine is a long time government contractor, and has a history of supporting the needs of our military."
A prototype of the 3.0 Liter OptiMax JP outboard made its public debut at the Navy Sea, Air & Space Expo, April 15-17, in Washington, D.C. The outboard cowling features a special stealth-like flat black finish and tone-on-tone graphics.
The engines will be used worldwide by all departments of the U.S. Military and Special Forces. Working with the Department of Defense is nothing new for Mercury Racing president Fred Kiekhaefer, son of Mercury Marine founder Carl Kiekhaefer, who is also president of Brunswick Commercial and Government Products. The Edgewater, Florida based company produces specialized vessels for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. "Mercury developed chainsaw and target drone engines for the war effort " the WWII war effort " so this is not new to us. For decades, Mercury engines have also been in service for environmental protection, port security and interdiction of those who would undermine America," said Fred Kiekhaefer.
