Boeing partners with Pelico to revolutionise C-17A maintenance with AI

Boeing Global Services has struck a memorandum of understanding with Pelico, an AI-focused data optimisation specialist, as it looks to modernise heavy maintenance planning for the C-17A Globemaster III.

The agreement centres on using AI-enabled scheduling, supply-chain coordination and workflow automation to cut depot turnaround times, improve fleet availability and make maintenance work more predictable. Boeing and Pelico will examine whether the software can help maintenance...

At the heart of the trial is Pelico’s Manufacturing Orchestration Platform, which is intended to bring supply, engineering, planning and depot operations into a single digital environment. Rather than relying on spreadsheets and disconnected processes, the system is designed to give users a live view of shortages, maintenance priorities and operational constraints. The companies will also test features such as predictive shortage management, dynamic prioritisation and agentic AI workflows to handle routine approvals and supplier communication.

Boeing said the approach builds on an earlier use of Pelico’s platform in its commercial spare parts business, which it said had already shown promise and has since been expanded. Travis Williams, Boeing vice-president of Mobility and Surveillance Aircraft Services, said the work was aimed at producing “measurable operational improvements” that could be replicated more widely if the results prove out.

The C-17 remains a key military transport aircraft for the United States and allied operators. Boeing says 275 are in service worldwide, supporting strategic airlift, humanitarian missions and deliveries to austere airfields. The new partnership suggests the company is increasingly turning to digital tools to support the sustainment work that keeps such fleets mission-ready, with the possibility that any successful methods could later be applied across other heavy maintenance programmes.

Source: Noah Wire Services