By Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes May 13, 2021 May 13, 2021 Military researchers are helping “scale up” the use of E.coli to produce fuel for Hellfire missiles, part of a larger push to manufacture small batches of specialty chemicals in cheaper and cleaner ways using microbes. The use of gut bacteria to make missile propellant is a “larger proof of concept” for the Army’s expansion of biological manufacturing capabilities. The hope is that it will wean the U.S. military off chemicals derived from crude oil in “costly petrochemical facilities” and often available through limited suppliers, the Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center said in a statement.