Brenda Marie Rivers
Textron’s Bell subsidiary has awarded contracts to Rolls-Royce and aerospace technology manufacturer Astronics to provide propulsion and power generation systems to support Bell’s bid for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition.
Astronics said Tuesday it will offer its solid-state power distribution and electrical generation technology called CorePower to help drive Bell’s V-280 Valor rotorcraft for the FLRAA program.
The CorePower airframe power system will also be used to support the 360 Invictus helicopter that will serve as Bell's bid for the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft effort according to Astronics.
In a separate notice, Rolls-Royce said it entered into an agreement with Bell to provide the former's propulsion technology and infrared suppressor offering for V-280.
Rolls-Royce noted that the agreement comes after it invested more than $600M to expand the manufacturing capacity at its facilities in Indiana.
Ryan Ehinger, vice president and program director for FLRAA at Bell, said that Team Valor members intend to leverage their “collective vertical flight expertise†to meet requirements under the Army program.
The team is slated to facilitate a competitive demostration for FLRAA and complete development work in 18 to 24 months.
