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PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT) announced today that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company, has been awarded the development contract for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission. "We are honored that the U.S. Army...

As Saudi Arabia continues its multi-billion dollar international arms shopping spree, it appears to have begun evaluating Textron AirLand’s Scorpion light attack jet. The firm has previously said that the Kingdom is interested in the aircraft, but growing American political opposition to its brutal and protracted intervention in Yemen might slow or scuttle actual purchases. Online flight tracking websites caught one of the Scorpion demonstrators, which presently carries the U.S. civil registration code N532TX, flying from the Royal Saudi Air Force’s King Faisal Air Base (KFAB), which is co-located with the Tabuk Regional Airport, earlier in November 2017. Though the...

Textron AirLand’s Scorpion light attack fighter has demonstrated its close air support capability for the first time during a weapons exercise at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Operating from Holloman AFB in New Mexico, the developmental aircraft launched three different munitions during tests that ran from 10-14 October. Under evaluation were Hydra-70 unguided 2.75 in rockets, the BAE Systems Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, and Lockheed Martin AGM-114F Hellfire missile. Weapons guidance was supported by the aircraft’s L-3 Wescam MX-15Di sensor and a ground-based laser designator, Textron says. The time taken from design and integration to flight testing...

After asking state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to stop work on the intermediate jet trainers (IJT), the Indian Air Force (IAF) is now keen on the US offer of Textron’s AirLand Scorpion light-attack and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft. The IAF badly needs an IJT due to delays by HAL, which has been working on an IJT since 1997. Senior IAF officials believe that the twin-seat platform of the Textron’s ISR aircraft can also be used as an intermediate jet trainer. Sources have indicated during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US from September 22 to...

IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly is reporting that U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s scheduled visit to India in June may include an offer of Textron’s new Scorpion jet. The Jane’s story said Carter will sign a 10-year India-US Defence Framework Agreement and fast-track the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, which provides for the two countries to jointly develop and produce military equipment in India. The story said under the DTTI, the U.S. could offer Textron AirLand’s Scorpion to the Indian Air Force, which is in need of an intermediate jet trainer. The two-seat Scorpion jet was developed in Wichita, which also...

After more than four decades in service, the A-10 Warthog is due for a replacement. So says the U.S. Air Combat Command. What's more, ACC says it's already "thinking about" fielding such a replacement. But what might that replacement be? Last week, we got a clue. As reported by Reuters, the Air Force has recently begun evaluating Textron's Scorpion fighter jet as a potential 21st-century replacement for the 20th-century Warthog.

LONDON–The Nigerian air force is concerned that efforts to acquire new combat aircraft from Textron Inc.TXT +1.56% and AirLand Enterprises LLC to battle Boko Haram militants will be blocked over concerns about the country’s human rights record. “We are really handicapped in attacking the enemy where we want,” Air Vice Marshal R.A. Ojuawo, the director of operations for the Nigerian air force, said Tuesday. “We need capabilities for a timely response.” Nigeria has battled the Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram over control of the country’s northeast. Nigeria in recent days retook the area of Chibok, where the insurgents kidnapped nearly...

The United Arab Emirates is in serious discussions with Textron AirLand about buying the new Scorpion jet, sources told Defense Daily. The Scorpion, designed and built in Wichita, is in flight testing. The plane was designed to be an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance airplane with strike capabilities, Textron officials have said. But sources told Defense Daily that the UAE is considering the Scorpion for its aerobatic squadron Al Fursan, which flies the Alenia Aermacchi MB-339. A purchase for Al Fursan would be a first step in a larger relationship, the report said. Textron’s policy is not to comment about possible...

Fighter jets, like the Lockheed F-35, are becoming increasingly expensive. Is it possible to make something much cheaper? Angus Batey reports on a new breed of plane poised to take to the skies. At this summer's Farnborough Air Show in England, the talk was dominated by the mishaps of one plane: the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter. Due to be adopted by major air forces in the decades to come, it was supposed to be the star of the show. But in the end, the $100m-a-unit jet failed to turn up to its...

Two US fighter jets were due to make their international debuts this week at the year's most important aerospace event, the Farnborough Airshow. At the moment, only one of them is here. The F-35 may be the world's most expensive, most advanced military jet programme, but it was a cheap and cheerful budget aircraft that managed the trans-Atlantic crossing to Farnborough. The Scorpion costs about $20m (£12m) a throw, is built from off-the-shelf components, and went from drawing board to first flight in 23 months. The F-35, costing three times as much and conceived in the early 1990s, is still...

Textron AirLand's new military jet prototype, the twin-engine Scorpion, is breezing through the development phase and is now ready to make its international debut. With more than 105 hours of flight-testing on its prototype, the Wichita, Kansas-based company plans to send the Scorpion on its way on a multi-day, 4,700-nm flight from Wichita to RAF Fairford-Gloucestershire today. The prototype will be shown off to potential customers attending the Farnborough International Airshow and The Royal International Air Tattoo, both set to take place in the United Kingdom in the middle of this month. Textron AirLand president Bill Anderson said the airplane...

American company Textron Airland is bidding to sell its “budget” Scorpion jets to the Swiss government at one-seventh the cost of Swedish Gripen fighter planes turned down by voters in Switzerland this month. “The Scorpion is ideally suited to Switzerland’s circumstances,” Textron Airland president Bill Anderson is quoted as telling Tages Anzeiger in a report this week. “It is cheaper than the Gripen and still meets 90 percent of the tasks at hand,” Anderson said. “We could offer the jet to Switzerland for less than $20 million.” Swiss voters on May 18th shot down a deal approved by the government...

PICTURES: Cessna parent Textron pushes new strike jet Ground testing is under way of an all-new jet-powered tactical strike aircraft designed to perform “lower-threat battlefield and homeland security missions” pitched at cash-strapped militaries across the globe. Cessna parent Textron has teamed with AirLand Enterprises, forming a joint venutre, Textron AirLand, to develop the Scorpion, with first flight anticipated later this year, it says. Textron Development work on the programme started in January 2012 with the aiming building the “world’s most affordable tactical jet aircraft”, says Textron chairman and chief executive Scott Donnelly. “We relied on commercial best practices to develop...

A subsidiary of U.S. defence giant Textron has won the competition to provide the Canadian Forces with 500 new tactical armoured patrol vehicles. The contract for the acquisition of the vehicles, known by its military acronym TAPV, is worth a little more than $600 million. The sustainment contract for the vehicles is worth a little more than $100 million. Textron Systems Canada Inc. opened its Ottawa office in January on Sparks Street and will manage its role as prime contractor for the project from there. The Canadian Textron TAPV team includes Kongsberg Protech Systems Canada, London, ON, Rheinmetall Canada, St....

India signs Sensor Fused Weapon deal By Craig Hoyle Textron Defense Systems has been awarded a $258 million contract to supply India with 512 of its CBU-105 Sensor Fused Weapons. Announced on 8 December, the Foreign Military Sales deal also includes the provision of 44 training units to the Indian air force. So far, the US Air Force has assigned $126 million of the total contract value, the Department of Defense says. The sale was first outlined by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in a September 2008 notification to Congress. At that time, it was projected as likely to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army said on Wednesday it might cancel a $6.2 billion Textron Inc (TXT.N) armed helicopter program after finding that projected costs had soared more than 40 percent above initial estimates. One possibility is that the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, or ARH, being built by Textron's Bell Helicopter unit, could be "terminated" after a mandatory review, but the Army has a critical need for its capabilities, said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman.

Engineer Paul Green wheels his company's new fully armored combat vehicle over the clay roads and muddy streambeds of the South Carolina backcountry, guns the engine and races over one hill and then the next. "This is designed to be what we thought would be a step up from the Humvee," he shouts as he shifts gears. "This vehicle was never designed to be a direct replacement for the current armored Humvee." But the prototype -- christened the MUV-R (Mine-protected Utility Vehicle/Rapid Deployable) by its manufacturer, Charleston, S.C.-based Force Protection, Inc. -- may well be.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Textron's (NYSE:TXT - news) Bell Helicopter unit was chosen on Friday by the U.S. Army to build 368 new armed reconnaissance helicopters in a contract that the company valued at $2.2 billion. The new helicopters would replace the Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, that were also produced by Bell. Bell beat out a rival team led by Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) for the work that will start with an initial development contract worth $210.7 million. Bell offered the Army a military version of its 407 helicopter, an upgraded version of the OH-58 family that has a...

ST. LOUIS, July 14, 2005 – The V-22 Osprey had a “coming out” of sorts yesterday, when VMX-22, the U.S. Marine Corps Tiltrotor Test and Evaluation Squadron in New River, N.C., hosted media from around the nation. The event was held to share highlights of the recently completed Operational Test and Evaluation and provide a look at where the program currently is and what milestones are yet to come. Those in attendance had the experience of a lifetime when they became some of the first non-government personnel to fly on board a V-22. “The VMX-22 squadron, led by Col. Glenn...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Back when federal lawmakers legally could be paid for speaking to outside groups, John Kerry collected more than $120,000 in fees from interests as diverse as big oil, tobacco, the liquor lobby and unions, records show. Between 1985 and 1990, Kerry's first five years in the Senate from Massachusetts, he pocketed annual amounts slightly under the limits for speaking fees set by Congress. Unlike many colleagues, he donated a speaking fee to charity only once, according to annual financial disclosure reports reviewed by The Associated Press. One of the companies to pay Kerry $1,000 for a speech...