Bell Opens New Wichita Facility

Bell Textron held a ceremony to mark the official opening of its new facility in Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday. The facility will be used for Bell engineering, supply chain, professional manufacturing and corporate services operations. Bell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

“The new Bell facility in Wichita is a great addition to the Air Capital of the World and will continue Kansas’ leadership in aerospace manufacturing,” said U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kan. “I look forward to seeing Bell contribute to our strong aviation industry as a defense and commercial leader.”

According to Bell, it elected to invest in a Wichita office as a result of the company’s selection as a finalist for two U.S. Army modernization programs earlier this year. As previously reported by AVweb, Bell is producing a prototype of its 360 Invictus helicopter design for the second phase of the Army’s Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program. The company is also competing in the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program with its V-280 Valor tiltrotor.