Fort Worth-based Bell Textron Inc. is speeding up its work on the Army\u2019s next-generation attack aircraft, the MV-75, while pouring huge investments into facilities across Dallas-Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Selected by the Army in 2022 under the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program<\/a>, Bell\u2019s MV-75 \u201chelicopter\u201d is set to eventually replace the iconic UH-60 Black Hawk. The overall contract to build the aircraft could be worth up to $1.3 billion, with potential long-term value soaring<\/a> to $70 billion over the next few decades, according to the company.<\/p>\n To boost the production process, Bell has been building and expanding several facilities in the DFW area.<\/p>\n A $20 million \u201cDrive Systems Test Lab\u201d in Grand Prairie will focus on overseeing the development of some of the chopper\u2019s technology, like gearboxes, while a \u201cWeapons Systems Integration Lab\u201d in Arlington will help support Bell\u2019s existing flight research center.<\/p>\n In December, the company also unveiled a $632 million plant at AllianceTexas, dedicated to manufacturing rotor blades and transmissions for the new aircraft.<\/p>\n Currently, Bell employs more than 8,000 workers, with roughly 4,000 based in Fort Worth. That workforce is expected to grow as the MV-75 program ramps up. More than 1,000 employees are already focused specifically on engineering and manufacturing development, Bell reported.<\/p>\n The Army has hinted that it wants the MV-75 \u201chelicopter\u201d delivered by 2028, two years ahead of the original 2030 target.<\/p>\n In response, Bell is now using a \u201csoldiers on the factory floor approach\u201d to speed up production, while also giving Army pilots early exposure to the modern \u201ctiltrotor technology\u201d the aircraft will use.<\/p>\n Two virtual prototypes of digital flight simulators mimicking the aircraft\u2019s cockpit were delivered in June to help pilots train in advance.<\/p>\n While the MV-75 will be assembled at Bell\u2019s Amarillo facility, many components will be manufactured and tested in DFW. The north Fort Worth plant, still in the early permitting and design phase, may see some early production moved to existing sites to meet the Army\u2019s accelerated timeline demands.<\/p>\n Bell is also reportedly pursuing more Army contracts, including a program to train pilots with its 505 helicopters, potentially replacing the \u201cUH-72 Lakota\u201d the military currently uses. If awarded, Bell says they could supply roughly 190 aircraft for that training program.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s growth is already blatantly visible in its recently reported earnings.<\/p>\n Textron Inc., Bell\u2019s parent company, reported $1 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2025, up 28% from last year, obviously fueled by the MV-75 program, as well as their commercial helicopter sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth-based Bell Textron Inc. is speeding up its work on the Army\u2019s next-generation attack aircraft, the MV-75,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":153996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-153995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fortworth","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115046068053034302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}