MRF today announced plans to enter the defence aviation sector by launching a new helicopter tyre. MRF Chairman and Managing Director K M Mammen launched Aero Muscle in Chennai, which will be supplied to the Indian Air Force. MRF will be the first Indian company to supply aviation tyres to IAF.
Till recently, IAF entirely depended on imports from the UK and Russia for aviation tyres. “More than two years of research has gone into this new product,” said Mammen. The company has spent close to Rs 150 crore on the development of the new product, which will be made at its plant in the Medak district of Andhra Pradesh.