Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor won the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. (Bell)

FARNBOROUGH 2024 — Bell intends to step away from Spirit AeroSystems as the fuselage provider for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft after Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit is finalized, Breaking Defense has learned.

The shakeup would force Bell to either find a new producer for the composite-skinned aluminum fuselage or to bring work in house, and strip Spirit of work on hundreds of tiltrotor aircraft. Aviation Week first reported Bell’s plans, which were confirmed by a source to Breaking Defense.

“Spirit has had a successful ten-year partnership with Bell on this program and we will continue to work with them to deliver on our joint commitments,” Spirit AeroSystems spokesman Joe Buccino said.

A Bell spokesperson declined to comment on supplier relationships. Boeing declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Boeing finalized terms to reacquire Spirit AeroSystems in a $8.3 billion deal that would give the plane maker work on a slate of key defense programs from its main competitors, including Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor for the FLRAA program, Northrop Grumman’s B-21 and Lockheed Martin’s CH-53K.

During a briefing at Farnborough Airshow this week, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told reporters that he wanted to ensure Spirit’s aerospace work stayed in Kansas, where the aerostructures producer is currently based. Moran had previously raised concerns about the proposed acquisition before it was formally announced.

“I particularly want to make certain that we do not do anything in this acquisition that diminishes the capability of meeting our defense needs nationwide, or globally, by any kind of pause, any kind of disruption in the supply chain,” he said. “I want to make certain that companies who do defense work with Spirit have a place to do that work, either with Spirit in the future or with Kansas otherwise.”

Bell won the FLRAA contract in 2022, in a deal Army officials said then was worth up to $1.3 billion but could end up being in the range of $70 billion if contract options and export opportunities emerge.