Aircraft tubeless tire is one of six works awarded with first prize at the 13th National Technical Innovation Competition.

Colonel, Dr Nguyen Huu Doan, Deputy Director of the Air Force Technical Institute, said that there had been no domestic agency which dealt with the matter until Doan and his co-workers began working on it. There had not been any foreign investor which set factory in Vietnam or teamed up with Vietnamese enterprises to make aircraft tubeless tires in Vietnam.

Doan and his colleagues began working on technology with existing equipment and production line at the Sao Vang Rubber JSC and the Air Force Technical Institute.

Making aircraft tubeless tire requires complex technology and modern equipment. It is estimated that it would cost $20 million to get the technology transfer and import a production line to make the tires.

Regarding the input materials, 60 percent is the natural rubber made in Vietnam, while the other materials and chemicals are imports available in both domestic and foreign markets. This means that the supply of the materials and chemicals is stable to ensure the demand.

There were two questions the scientists had to deal with – the loading and speed, both of which will affect the design and the quality of products.

The Air Force Technical Institute once successfully made tires for MiG21 and Su-22 aircrafts, but they were all normal tires with inner tube.

Meanwhile, it is now a growing tendency to use tubeless tire because it is better and safer for aircraft.

Doan and his co-workers decided to create a nano protection membrane for their new tubeless tires, believing that the membrane would help better protect tires in the context of a tropical climate with high humidity.

When asked about the production cost, Doan said manufacturers would be able to save money if organizing the production based on existing automobile tire manufacturing line.

They would only have to install more equipment, estimated to cost 5-10 percent of the total production line value.

Meanwhile, Vietnam can control the natural rubber supply because rubber can be grown in Vietnam. Vietnamese labor cost is 3-5 times cheaper than foreign and it is cheaper to carry goods within Vietnam than shipping from overseas.

Vietnam now has to pay VND20 million for an import product. However, once the production is organized, the selling price would be VND8 million only, which is high enough to cover the production cost and bring profit to manufacturers.

“With the current capacity, we are quite capable of making the amount of tires big enough to satisfy the domestic demand and Vietnam will not have to import the products anymore,” he stated.

Source: Vietnamnet