In 2009 JCB will provide 92, 100- to 165-hp wheel loaders to the U.S. Air Force.

JCB continues its long-standing relationship of supplying wheel loaders to the U.S. Air Force. The company has shipped 92 JCB wheel loaders in the 100-hp and 165-hp range in 2009, and has contracted more than 250 units during the past five years.

“We are proud to continue meeting the stringent U.S. military requirements for strength and durability with our machines,” said JCB CEO John Patterson. “We are currently supplying the U.S. Army with the 800 High Mobility Engineer Excavators in addition to the wheel loaders that are being supplied to the U.S. Air Force.”

Used for base maintenance and to clear runways for B-52s in the U.S., the 416HT (100hp) and the 426HT (165hp) will actively serve a wide variety of applications overseas. According to Louie Wright, a JCB government dealer, the U.S. Air Force will utilize these units in the U.S., as well as overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.

The JCB 416HT is a high bucket torque wheeled loader with a JCB Diesel Max engine that produces 121 net hp. The 426HT features a Cummins QSB63.7 engine and produces 152 hp. Coupled with a semi-automatic transmission, both the 416HT and the 426HT are highly fuel efficient.

With North American headquarters in Savannah, Ga., JCB has 18 manufacturing plants on four continents: 11 in the U.K., three in India and others in the U.S., China, Germany and Brazil. The company manufactures more than 300 different machines including backhoe loaders; Loadall telescopic handlers; tracked and wheeled excavators; wheel loaders; articulated dump trucks; rough-terrain forklifts; mini excavators; skid-steers loaders; JCB Vibromax compaction equipment; generators and ground care equipment.