Bell has opened an office in Wichita, Kan., that will house the Textron subsidiary's corporate, manufacturing, supply chain and engineering functions and programs that support aerospace customers. The new facility is part of an investment to grow Bell operations after the U.S. Army selected the aircraft manufacturer to participate in two of the service branch's modernization programs, Textron said Thursday.

David Phillips and Wayne Prender, senior vice presidents at Textron, have said that the U.S. Navy should consider deploying vessels with unmanned or optionally manned configurations to prevent further challenges in fleet sustainment.

Textron Systems has secured a pair of contracts worth $46.4M combined to manufacture five small unmanned aircraft systems for the U.S. Army.

Textron Systems handed over to the U.S. Navy a ship-to-shore connector platform built to serve as a test and training craft for the service branch.

Textron plans to incorporate amphibious and surface warfare capabilities into a long-range unmanned vessel designed to help the U.S. Navy carry out minesweeping operations, USNI News reported Wednesday.

Textron Systems believes the common unmanned surface vehicle could help meet the need of the U.S. Marine Corps for a long-range unmanned surface vessel designed to resupply troops deployed in the Pacific, Defense News reported Wednesday.

A Textron-built ship-to-shore connector is slated to undergo U.S. Navy acceptance trials after the completion of the platform's developmental and production stages, USNI reported Monday.

Textron is one of three companies the U.S. Army selected to develop prototypes of rifles under the service branch’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program and wants to be prepared to go into mass production should it win the NGSW contract, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

Textron's aviation business and General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. subsidiary have received separate contracts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to manufacture airplanes for use in environmental data-gathering missions.

Textron Aviation Defense expects an upcoming U.S. Air Force certification that may support the global sales of the firm's AT-6 Wolverine light-attack, single-engine aircraft, FlightGlobal reported Saturday.

Scott Donnelly, CEO of Textron, said the company is halfway done with builder's trials of the Ship-to-Shore Connector platform it developed for the U.S. Navy and expects to receive a contract by the end of the year to commence production of the air cushion vehicle, USNI News reported Thursday. Textron won the SSC design and construction project in 2012. Both parties are in discussions about moving the program from the development phase to the manufacturing stage.

Textron Systems has received a 10-year, $51.3M contract modification to provide multiprobe antenna systems for the U.S. Air Force’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Textron Systems prepares to deliver Aerosonde HQ, a new unmanned aircraft system, for the initial phase of the U.S. Army’s Future Tactical UAS program, which involves assessment by the Army’s Brigade Combat Team, Rotor and Wing International reported Friday.

Textron has finished test flights of a newly configured multimission unmanned aircraft system slated to join the U.S. Army fleet sometime in 2020, Aviation International News reported Monday. Shadow's Block III tests occurred at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico over a five-week period. The configuration includes a new engine, an updated video payload from L3 Technologies' Wescam business and advanced communications technology.

Textron's Airborne Tactical Advantage subsidiary has received a one-year, $55.6M contract modification to provide Type III high subsonic and Type IV supersonic aircraft to fleet customers of the U.S. Navy.