Fort Worth’s Bell Textron wins US Army contract worth billions to replace Black Hawks

Fort Worth-based Bell Textron Inc. has been awarded a development contract potentially worth billions of dollars for the U.S. Army’s next generation of helicopter to replace Black Hawks.

Textron announced the award Monday for what’s called the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA program. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the program that began in 2013.

The Army’s choice of Bell Textron for the massive contract beat out Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The V-280 Valor acts as a helicopter when taking off or landing, but in the air can reconfigure itself to fly faster than traditional helicopters.

The competition to develop a next-generation aircraft comes as the Army plans to retire the aging UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, which are built by Sikorsky.

Reuters reported that Army officials said the initial award was for $232 million, but initial production of helicopters could be worth $7.1 billion. Ultimately, the contract is potentially worth around $70 billion over the years, the Army told reporters on Monday evening.

The Army says Bell’s V-280 Valor has reached speeds of more than 340 mph, Reuters reported.

“We are honored that the U.S. Army has selected the Bell V-280 Valor as its next-generation assault aircraft,” said Scott C. Donnelly, Textron’s chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. “We intend to honor that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the Army’s mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army Aviation.”

Bell gave a demonstration of its V-280 Valor in January 2020 at its flight research center in Arlington, to an audience that included Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and other officials. The aircraft flew over the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show in 2019.

“There’s nothing like seeing this,” said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger at the time, after seeing the demonstration. She is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing and more than three years of rigorous flight testing, Bell Textron said. The testing validated the “technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission,” the company said.

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Army, Bell, and Team Valor as we modernize the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. “Bell has a long history supporting Army Aviation and we are ready to equip Soldiers with the speed and range they need to compete and win using the most mature, reliable, and affordable high-performance long-range assault weapon system in the world.”

Bell said the initial contract refines the “weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.”

This is a developing story.