Bell Textron is laying off 285 employees in Fort Worth, Amarillo and Wichita, Kansas, according to an email statement from the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cuts come as the U.S. House Armed Services committee shuffles the budget for Bell Textron\u2019s marquee contract and as Pentagon officials warn that the Iran War is depleting its coffers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Bell Textron, approximately 285 employees were laid off at three of the Fort Worth-based aerospace facilities. Also, for certain employees, a three-week furlough beginning June 15 was issued.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaffing decisions like this are difficult, but they are also necessary to align the company to market realities and position it for the long term,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The impacted Kansas and Amarillo facilities are involved in the production of the MV-75 Cheyenne II aircraft, slated to replace the iconic UH-60 Black Hawk as the Army\u2019s long-range assault aircraft. According to\u00a0Fort Worth Report<\/a>, the Kansas facility, which opened earlier this year, assembles the aircraft\u2019s fuselage, while Amarillo houses a final assembly complex for Bell Textron\u2019s vertical lift products.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bell Textron\u2019s V-280 Valor, a not-quite-helicopter tilt-rotor aircraft, was selected to become the Army\u2019s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, part of the Future Vertical Lift program, in 2022<\/a>. It was officially named the MV-75 Cheyenne II by the Army earlier this year.<\/p>\n According to government filings, the project is \u201cactively accelerating completion of development, delivery of prototypes and production\u201d at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the Army plans to initiate production orders in fiscal year 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n