Bell wins Army contract to further develop V-280 Valor aircraft

© Provided by Amarillo KFDA-TV V-280 Valor

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Bell Textron announced today it has won an Army contract to further develop its next generation of aircraft that can lift like a helicopter and fly like a plane.

The V-280 Valor would replace Black Hawk transport and Apache attack choppers.

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Army, Bell, and Team Valor as we modernize the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. “Bell has a long history supporting Army Aviation and we are ready to equip Soldiers with the speed and range they need to compete and win using the most mature, reliable, and affordable high-performance long-range assault weapon system in the world.”

The contract includes refining the weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.

It’s not clear how much, if any, of the manufacturing would happen in the company’s Amarillo plant, but test flights have taken place here.

Industry observers have said a manufacturing contract later could be worth billions of dollars.