Bell Textron has completed the first nacelle structures for its MV-75 Cheyenne test aircraft and begun testing the aircraft’s gearbox system.
The nacelles have been delivered to Bell’s Assembly Centre in Amarillo, Texas, where the company has started fitting them to the aircraft’s wings.
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Bell said the structures were produced using digital engineering across design, tooling, component manufacture and assembly.
Testing has also started on the aircraft’s first gearboxes. The units form part of the drive system and power electrical generators, hydraulic pumps and cooling blowers for the engine and nacelle.
Bell designed and manufactured the gearboxes, with the gears and cases produced at its Manufacturing Technology Centre in Fort Worth.
The completed system was assembled and instrumented for testing at the company’s Drive System Test Lab in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Separately, Bell is continuing software and systems integration work in its Weapon System Integration Lab in Arlington, Texas.
Flight-control computers, general-purpose computers, actuator drive units, electrical equipment and large-area displays are among the systems installed on test benches, the company said.
Bell opened the integration facility two years ago. The company said testing there would allow software and aircraft systems to be assessed before they are installed on the test aircraft.
The progress on nacelle completion, gearbox testing, and avionics integration comes as Bell and its industrial partners continue to coordinate with the US Army to meet programme requirements for the MV-75 Cheyenne.
The contract for these activities is managed by the Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal.
The MV-75 Cheyenne, developed under the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programme, is intended to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Each aircraft will be powered by two Rolls-Royce AE 1107 engines and feature fly-by-wire controls and digital infrastructure designed to accommodate evolving mission demands.
