You also have to remember, the US Army runs more helicopters than most countries have trucks.
No idea on reliability or if they mean US military or US Army, but they could have over 5000 of the buggers. When you are throwing attack helicopter Brigades into the mix, their fuel becomes supper important. And the reality is, even an Armoured Brigade's fuel usage pales into insignificance when compared to an Aviation Brigade. It makes sense to hence run everyone on JP-8. For a more, 'normal' Army like Australia, we can't do that. Even on a perfect day, we are throwing a Regt/Bn of helicopters into the mix. Against an Armoured Brigade, the 'need' for jet fuel is much, much lower. So we just stick with diesel.
People also need to be careful at comparing like for like. A M1 chews fuel like ... well, like I chew chocolate. An M1A2 on the other hand, it's much more restrained. The
work done over the years to improve the efficiency of the AGT1500 (TIGER ECU update in 2006 improved consumption by 10% straight up for example) and add an APU means there is no real difference in fuel consumption between Western MBT. And I say real, because fighting isn't just drive at optimal rpm over nice terrain. It's also not until you are dry. All our MBTs are about the same weight, they are all about the same in performance. Physics demands that they all chew about the same amount of fuel. As a neat fact, a
Pl of M1 chews as much fuel as a Pl of M4, despite 60 odd years difference....
Anyone who thinks that supporting Leo 2's is easy....probably shouldn't be listened to.....
