Comapany Makes News At Paris Air Show
A lot of news is coming from Bell Helicopter during the Paris
Air Show, beginning with the announcement that it has been awarded
Phase 1.5 of a two-phase Joint Performance Based Logistics (PBL)
contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the V-22
Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the Marine Corps (MV-22), and Air
Force Special Operations Command (CV-22).
Phase 1.5 of the contract, valued at $11 million, is a
modification to an existing contract, designed to implement
reliability improvements on a select number of aircraft components
which have been determined to have a significant impact on mission
readiness. Under the terms of the new contract, government is
investing in non-recurring engineering costs to enable Bell Boeing
engineers to design changes to certain key aircraft components to
improve reliability.
"Phase 1.5 of the PBL process is the next step in this proactive
partnership between government and industry," said Gene Cunningham,
vice president of the Bell Boeing Program Office in Amarillo. "It
will enable us to develop long-term improvements to several V-22
components that will be key to boosting aircraft reliability and
mission readiness rates as we continue to mature the Osprey
fleet."
Bell also announced the selection of its first Customer Service
Facility (CSF) provider in Russia. Kazan Aviation Enterprise was
appointed as a CSF offering field maintenance for the Bell model
407 helicopter.
Danny Maldonado, vice president for Customer Support and Bell's
Chief Services Officer said, "Recently Bell Helicopter has seen a
tremendous increase in the demand for our products in the Russian
market. Establishing a CSF there is another indication of the
growth we are experiencing, and the importance we place on the
Russian market."
Mr. Magomed Bakhulayevich, President of Kazan Aviation
Enterprise stated, "Being selected by Bell to be their first CSF in
Russia is something we take great pride in and look forward to
upholding the high standards Bell has for their CSF network."
The Bell CSF network consists of approximately 133 service
facilities located in 33 countries.
And the company capped off the day letting us know about the
sale of two 412EP helicopters to the New York Police Department
(NYPD) for use as air sea rescue helicopters.
Bob Fitzpatrick, Sr. vice president of Business Development and
Commercial Programs stated, "Having a customer like the NYPD, which
uses our products everyday, come back and buy updated models to
replace their older fleet is a great testament to the quality of
our products and the high level of customer support we provide our
products in the field."
The NYPD Aviation Unit is slated to receive these new four-axis
helicopters with state of the art avionics and mission specific
equipment. Customization will be done by Edwards &
Associates, Inc in Bristol, Tennessee.