The air-filled or pneumatic tire is composed of a core filled with airtight sealed pressurized air. Normally, a tread made with reinforced steel belting or other materials, seals this inner core and provides the contact part with the road.
As the pressure of the air inside the tire is more than atmospheric air pressure, the tire remains inflated even with the weight of the vehicle resting on it. The pressure of the air in the tire provides resistance against forces that attempt to deform the tire. When the tire hits bumps in the road, this gives the tire a slight degree of a cushioning effect. If you have experienced taking a ride in an old-fashioned carriage that had wooden wheels, you know how huge of a difference a set of pneumatic tires makes.
Pneumatic tires also come with disadvantages. Highly dangerous applications or high-performance situations for instance, these tires could suffer a puncture and this will lead to a total failure. The consequence of a blowout at high speeds could result in a serious car crash. Military planners should take into account tires getting blown out by shooting of guns or explosion shrapnel. A vehicle crew's worst nightmare is becoming trapped in a fire zone because of all of their tires becoming flat. Airless tires obviously don't suffer from these type of problems and therefore, could be more suitable in certain applications.
The pneumatic tire may have issues as well with the variation in air pressure and tire performance. The lower pressure in a tire can increase the traction and the comfort level. This is because of the fact that tires flatten slightly and more tread is placed in contact with the road. The pressure of the air inside of the tire works to maintain the "up and down" stiffness as well as maintain the lateral stiffness of the tire. Therefore, reduced air pressure allows the sidewalls of the tires to flex. Unfortunately, this leads to poor handling. In an airless tire, the stiffness in those two dimensions is independent.
There are other problems with air pressure. Customers are notoriously unreliable when it comes to maintaining correct air pressure. Tires which have incorrect air pressure could lead to dangerous situations. It is very important to note that pneumatic tires are also prone to temperature changes, that can be responsible for changing the internal pressure of the tire. It is important to take into consideration the kind of environments you will be requiring your equipment to function in so that you could regularly inspect the tires and keep the equipment as safe as possible.