Bell Helicopter Begins Phase II Construction in Texas

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Bell Helicopter (Fort Worth, Texas), a subsidiary of Textron Incorporated (NYSE: TXT) (Providence, Rhode Island) and one of America's largest multi-industry companies, has started construction on a Phase II expansion project at their Tilt-Rotor V-22 assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas (PEC 01009654, Plant 1036286).

Located on 401 Tiltrotor Drive in Potter County, construction started on December 10, 2003 on a 113,000 square foot building expansion of the main assembly plant. Bell Helicopter will be performing the final assembly of the United States Marine Corps fleet of 180 AH-1 Super Cobra and 100 UH-1N Huey utility helicopters featuring common engines and flight dynamics at this facility. A total of 280 new aircraft are expected to be built to operate beyond 2020.

Western Builders located in Amarillo, Texas was awarded the general construction contract.

Bell Helicopter, was founded in 1935 as Bell Aircraft Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Bell is the world's leader in commercial helicopter production and the pioneer of tiltrotor aircraft development for both the military and commercial markets. Bell currently has over 37,000 helicopters delivered to customers around the globe and has plants in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (Plant 1050088), Mirabel, Quebec, Canada (Plant 2014537) in addition to the new Tiltrotor Assembly Center in Amarillo, Texas (Plant 1036286).