Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced a facility site selection today to support production of the U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA). The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program was initiated by the United States Army in 2019 to develop a successor to the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter as part of the Future Vertical Lift program. The new 447,000 sq. ft. factory, located in the Denton County region of Fort Worth, Texas, will be dedicated to FLRAA component manufacturing. Bell plans to begin facility modification and equipment installation and achieve facility readiness for Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) by 2028.
“The Army is committed to delivering the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft providing the speed, range, and endurance needed to conduct effective air assault, MEDEVAC and resupply missions for future Large Scale Combat Operations. “It is great to see our industry partners share in that commitment by investing in state-of-the-art facilities to produce the Army’s first ‘born digital’ aircraft weapon system,” Brig. Gen. David Phillips said.
“Bell is committed to establishing future manufacturing locations to deliver the first fielded aircraft by the early 2030s and do our part to revolutionize U.S. Army aviation. This facility also represents a strong economic partnership with the State of Texas, the City of Fort Worth, Northwest ISD, and Denton County. Their support has made it possible for Bell to significantly expand our footprint in North Texas and provide revolutionary capability to our nation’s warfighters ,” said Lisa Atherton, President and CEO, Bell.
Following the U.S. Army’s FLRAA contract award in December 2022, Bell has established several new state-of-the-art facilities to instantiate innovative manufacturing processes driving affordability, schedule and performance. As Bell and the FLRAA team work through the EMD phase, Bell’s focus will be on continued design maturation and prototyping. The U.S. Army’s new long-range assault aircraft will fly twice as far and twice as fast as the current fleet. By utilizing mature tiltrotor technology coupled with an innovative digital engineering approach and a modular open systems approach, it will be the most reliable, affordable and high-performing long-range assault aircraft in the world.
