A joint venture between Bell Helicopter and Boeing has received a $23.3 million order to deliver flight test and evaluation services for the U.S. Navy‘s V-22 Osprey aircraft. The Naval Air Systems Command obligated the whole amount in fiscal 2018 funds which will not expire upon the conclusion of the current fiscal year, the Defense Department said Tuesday . The company will perform 90 […] More

A joint venture of Boeing and Bell Helicopter has received a $20.6 million order from the U.S. Navy to maintain software of the V-22 Osprey joint service, multimission aircraft fleet. The Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office will engineer and provide technical support for  the V-22 flight control system and avionics software, the Defense Department said Wednesday. Work also covers flight control […] More

Textron‘s Bell Helicopter subsidiary has received a $12.1 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy to provide acquisition logistics support for the H-1 modernization effort. The Defense Department said Tuesday the modification covers logistics management, maintenance planning material, supply, design interface, technical data and equipment support, inventory and distribution management, storage, transportation, supportability analysis and technical manual updates services. Bell Helicopter will have up […] More

Capt. Jeff Dodge, a U.S. Navy program manager, has said that the service branch plans to start initial operational test and evaluation of the Northrop Grumman-built MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter in spring, FlightGlobal reported Tuesday. Dodge added that sea-based tests of MQ-8C on a littoral combat ship would follow in summer. MQ-8C is based on the Bell 407 utility […] More

A Boeing–Bell Helicopter joint venture has secured a potential five-year, $18 million contract to render support services for the U.S. Navy‘s V-22 tiltrotor aircraft fleet. The Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office will perform technical analysis, engineering and integration efforts under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, the Defense Department said Tuesday. Work is scheduled to be completed by December 2022 with funds […] More

TRU Simulation + Training, a Textron subsidiary, will test an augmented reality feature for the Bell V-280 Valor helicopter simulator, Defense News reported Thursday. John Hayward, senior vice president and general manager of military and the business simulation sector at TRU, told the company developed the V-280 simulator to introduce augmented reality features in the […] More

The fleet of V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, produced by a joint venture of Boeing and Textron‘s Bell Helicopter subsidiary, has recorded more than 400,000 flight hours to date. Bell Boeing-built V-22s have supported theater security cooperation, casualty evacuation, tactical aircraft and personnel recovery, disaster response and VIP transport operations worldwide, Boeing said Tuesday. The U.S. Marine Corps has used the […] More

U.S., Canadian and European aviation regulatory agencies have approved Honeywell‘s  satellite communication system and cabin connectivity service to facilitate Wi-Fi access onboard multiple helicopter models. Honeywell said Wednesday it received a Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certificate for the use of Aspire 200 satcom technolology on Airbus AS350 and Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. Transport Canada and the European Aviation Safety Agency […] More

Textron‘s Bell Helicopter subsidiary has completed the prototype build of a tiltrotor aircraft platform designed for the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program under the U.S. Army‘s Future Vertical Lift initiative. Bell said Wednesday it aims to demonstrate its V-280 Valor offering this fall through a maiden flight test. Lockheed Martin built V-280’s cockpit, avionics, distributed aperture system […] More

A Boeing–Bell Helicopter joint venture has secured a $32 million delivery order to repair various components of the U.S. Navy‘s V-22 Osprey multimission aircraft. The Defense Department said Friday Bell Boeing Joint Program Office will perform work in Fort Worth, Texas, and Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, through December 2018. DoD added the full obligated amount at the time of award […] More

A joint venture of Boeing and Bell Helicopter has received a potential $57.1 million contract modification to engineer and retrofit one MV-22 Osprey aircraft for the U.S. Navy. The Defense Department said Thursday Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office will provide non-recurring engineering and retrofitting services under the V-22 Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization program. DoD noted the service branch aims to reconfigure the MV-22 […] More

A Textron subsidiary and Poland’s state-owned defense company Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa have signed a letter of intent to explore possible areas of cooperation on the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter platform. The LOI is in addition to a similar agreement Bell Helicopter and PGZ signed last year to identify business opportunities for the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter in Poland, Textron said […] More