Bell builds first MV-75 nacelles and starts gearbox testing

Bell has completed the initial nacelle structures for the MV-75 Cheyenne and begun testing the aircraft's gearboxes. The Cheyenne is the tiltrotor chosen to replace much of the US Army's UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.

The nacelles belong to the first test aircraft, built under the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program. The service selected Bell's V-280 Valor design in December 2022 and awarded an initial development contract worth $1.3 billion.

The Army named the aircraft Cheyenne II in April 2026. The service and Bell now call it simply Cheyenne.

The nacelles have arrived at Bell's Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas, where employees have started joining them to the wings. Bell cited its use of digital engineering across design, tooling, manufacturing and assembly. The company finished the first two wing structures in June 2026, while the nacelles were still in production. Wings and nacelles will be mated to a fuselage under construction at Bell's Wichita Assembly Center in Kansas.

Gearbox testing is under way as well. The gearboxes drive the electrical generators, hydraulic pumps and cooling blowers that serve the engines and nacelles. Their gears and housings were made at Bell's Manufacturing Technology Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and are being tested at the company's new MV-75 Drive System Test Lab in Grand Prairie, Texas, where construction began in 2023.

Other parts of the power and propulsion system come from outside suppliers. Collins Aerospace was selected in April 2026 to supply the main power generation and interconnect drive systems, and Rolls-Royce has started ground testing of a related component.