The U.S. Navy reveals a new, brilliant way to produce fuel -- seawater can now be used to power any vehicle without modifying engines.

Navy scientists have spent years developing the process to take seawater and convert it into fuel, and they were finally able to successfully power a radio-controlled plane in the first test. Such liquid hydrocarbon fuel is being called "a game-changer," since it will allow warships to remain at sea for longer period.

"For the first time we've been able to develop a technology to get CO2 and hydrogen from seawater simultaneously, that's a big breakthrough," said Dr. Heather Willauer, an research chemist who has spent nearly a decade on the project. She also said that the fuel "doesn't look or smell very different."

The U.S. currently has a fleet of 15 military oil tankers, and only aircraft carriers and some submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion. All of the other vessels have no choice but to frequently abandon their mission for a few hours to navigate in parallel with the tanker, especially in bad weather. The ultimate goal here is not to depend on oil eventually - in other words, the Navy no longer will have to deal with potential shortages of oil or fluctuations in its cost.

The predicted cost of the new jet fuel is in the range of $3-$6 per gallon; with sufficient funding and partnerships, the innovative process will be commercially feasible within the next seven to ten years.

According to the Navy, pursuing remote land-based options will be the first step towards a future sea-based solution. "It's a huge milestone for us," said Vice Admiral Philip Cullom. "We are in very challenging times where we really do have to think in pretty innovative ways to look at how we create energy, how we value energy and how we consume it."

"We need to challenge the results of the assumptions that are the result of the last six decades of constant access to cheap, unlimited amounts of fuel," he continued. "Basically, we've treated energy like air, something that's always there and that we don't worry about too much. But the reality is that we do have to worry about it."

"For us in the military, in the Navy, we have some pretty unusual and different kinds of challenges," he added. "We don't necessarily go to a gas station to get our fuel, our gas station comes to us in terms of an oiler, a replenshiment ship. Developing a game-changing technology like this, seawater to fuel, really is something that reinvents a lot of the way we can do business when you think about logistics, readiness."