Bell-Boeing Joint Venture Wins U.S. Navy Contract For MV-22

Bell-Boeing, a strategic alliance between The Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) and Bell Helicopter, Textron Inc.’s (NYSE:TXT) wholly owned subsidiary, has won a $544.7 million multi-year modification contract from the U.S. Navy to supply four MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft. Contracting activity is the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MA.

Per the modification, the joint venture will provide long lead production materials for the aircraft, and manufacture and deliver the order. The modification is in agreement with the difference in quantity clause for the government of Japan and includes an engineering alteration proposal for the standby flight display.

Work is scheduled to be complete by May 2020. The company will execute the majority of the work in Fort Worth, TX, while the rest will be carried out across the states of Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, California Arizona, Utah, Washington, Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan Vermont, North Carolina and Ohio among other locations in the U.S. as well as in other countries including the UK and Canada. The contract will use foreign military sales funds.

MV-22 is a variant of the V-22 Osprey which is supplied to the U.S. Marine corps by Boeing. The V-22 aircraft was built by Boeing, in collaboration with Bell Helicopter. The V-22 Osprey is a joint-service multi-role combat aircraft that can fly as fast as a plane and land like a helicopter. It has the capacity to carry 24 combat troops, or up to 20,000 pounds of internal cargo or 15,000 pounds of external cargo.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Boeing holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and Textron has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). A couple of stocks worth considering in this space include Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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