Birmingham, UK – Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has won a deal to support the world’s fleet of more than 270 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft, the company announced 8 Jan.
According to the tire maker, the deal is one of the biggest in Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ 105-year history. The company linked the deal to its decision to invest in establishing its first ever tire distribution and retreading facility in the US.
Dunlop’s eight-year agreement with Boeing will see it provide new and retread tires for the C-17’s main and nose wheels. Each aircraft has a total of 14 wheels – 12 on the main landing gear and two on the nose.
Boeing estimates that Dunlop will need to provide approximately 10,000 new and retreaded tires each year to support the worldwide fleet.
This includes supporting aircraft operated by forces from Australia, Canada, India, NATO, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the UK. The US Air Force, which flies more than 220 of the aircraft, is the largest operator.
“This major contract is excellent news for the company,” said Dunlop’s chairman, Ian Edmondson. “Additional new tire and retread capacity has been added to support this important new contract and, following successful completion of the flight testing, we are now supplying tires to Boeing.”
“The development of the new C-17 tires went remarkably quickly from prototype to the final qualification test articles. We have completed final flight testing and have now received the first tire deliveries for our customers,” said Boeing’s supply chain technical lead engineer, Randy Liedahl.
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