Bell Opens Wichita Assembly Center for MV-75 Cheyenne Fuselage Assembly

Published date:08/05/2026 | Last updated date:08/05/2026

Bell Textron has opened its Wichita Assembly Center in Kansas to support fuselage assembly for the MV-75 Cheyenne, formerly known as the V-280 Valor.

The facility began fuselage manufacturing operations in October 2025 as part of an acceleration initiative directed by the U.S. Army, reinforcing Bell’s push to scale production for the next-generation tiltrotor aircraft.

Wichita joins Bell’s advanced manufacturing network

The Wichita site will focus on MV-75 fuselage work, while related production continues across Bell’s wider manufacturing footprint.

This includes:

• Bell’s Advanced Composite Center in Fort Worth
• additional advanced manufacturing facilities in Texas
• final assembly operations in Amarillo

The distributed production model highlights the scale of the MV-75 program and the need for specialized manufacturing capacity across multiple locations.

Advanced manufacturing becomes central to affordability

Bell President and CEO Danny Maldonado said the company is investing in advanced manufacturing as it moves through test aircraft assembly and toward accelerated production.

That focus is important because future military aircraft programs must balance:

• performance
• production speed
• affordability
• supply chain reliability

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Editorial perspective

Bell’s Wichita Assembly Center is not just another factory opening. It signals that the MV-75 program is moving deeper into industrialization.

For advanced composites and aerospace suppliers, this matters because next-generation rotorcraft production depends on more than design performance. It requires scalable manufacturing, repeatable quality and cost control across a coordinated supply chain.