Textron’s Bell division saw third-quarter revenues climb to $929 million, up $175 million from the same period a year ago, thanks mostly to higher volume and mix. Segment profit in the quarter also rose by $21 million, to $98 million, due to favorable impact from performance and pricing.
The company delivered 44 civil helicopters (41 light singles and twins and three medium-twin Bell 412s) in the three-month period, nearly double the 23 (21 light singles and twins and two 412s) handed over to customers in last year's third quarter. This accounted for $61 million of the revenue increase in the quarter and included 24 Bell 505s, thirteen 407s, and four 429s.
On the military side, Bell shipped just one aircraft—a V-22—but accounted for $81 million of the revenue increase thanks to funding from the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program for the U.S. Army.
Bell's backlog at the end of the quarter was $6.5 billion, up $2.3 billion from the second quarter. This increase largely reflects the approval of “Milestone B” for FLRAA and the resulting transition into the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program. The company is developing the V-280 Valor tiltrotor under the FLRAA program.