Bell Textron has revealed its fuselage assembly site in Wichita, Kansas, for the US Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.
FLRAA is an ongoing effort to replace the service’s aging UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters with modernized tiltrotor aircraft.
Located near the company’s Aviation Defense Center in Beech Field, the facility will house all work related to production under the initiative and be supported by Bell’s manufacturing network in Texas.
Additional fuselage developments will be conducted at the firm’s Advanced Composite Center in Fort Worth, with the aircraft’s final assembly to operate in Amarillo.
Activities at the Wichita hub are expected to begin “in the next several months,” the company said.
“As Bell prepares for the next stage of FLRAA’s Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, we are committed to investing in advanced manufacturing to ensure we deliver exceptional performance at an affordable cost to our customer,” Bell CEO and President Lisa Atherton stated.
“Textron has a rich history with the state of Kansas as well as the city of Wichita, and we are proud to deepen that relationship as we establish this new facility.”
Program Milestones
Bell Textron received the prime contract to develop the US Army’s FLRAA system in December 2022, with the company’s V-280 Valor selected as the program’s airframe.
The platform’s components will be sourced from different partners: Safran for the aircraft’s high-voltage generator, Eaton for hydraulics, GE Aerospace for avionics, and Astronics for electrical power and distribution systems.
Meanwhile, CAE will supply flight simulators for corresponding aircrew preparations under the program.
The US Army cleared Bell Textron for the V-280’s prototyping phase in August. The first production aircraft is set to arrive by 2030.
Bell Textron’s V-280 Valor
The V-280 Valor measures 51 feet (16 meters) long and has the capacity for 14 personnel.
It is powered by twin Rolls-Royce AE turboshaft engines for a top speed of 320 miles (515 kilometers) per hour, an altitude of up to 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), and a range of 920 miles (1,481 kilometers).