Bell Joins U.S. Army Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Program

July 29, 2020

The Bell 360 Invictus prototype submission is part of the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program. (Image courtesy of Bell Textron Inc.)

Bell Textron Inc. has announced agreements with nine premier aerospace industry leaders to form Team Invictus. The companies are producing the Bell 360 Invictus prototype submission as part of the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program. Each industry partner brings unique experience and technological expertise to provide a low-risk path for the Army’s acquisition of a lethal, affordable rotorcraft with advanced mission systems to modernize aviation for multi-domain operations (MDO).

Team members are working closely together to deliver the Bell 360 Invictus prototype using a configuration that emphasizes operational availability, sustainability, and maintainability. The members of Team Invictus include:

Astronics Corporation for a modular framework of airframe power generation, conversion, and distribution products;

Collins Aerospace for integration of a new generation of avionics hardware and software featuring cyber-hardened and digital backbone solutions to configure and integrate mission systems;

GE Aviation for the 3,000-SHP T901 engine and working on the aircraft Health Awareness System (HAS);

ITT-Enidine Inc. for the passive Liquid Inertia Vibration Eliminator (LIVE) units for all modes of operation including high speed;

L3Harris Technologies for the WESCAM™ MX-15D, an advanced, stabilized multi-sensor, multi-spectral imaging and targeting system;

Parker Lord for rotor dampers, the main rotor CF bearing, the tail rotor tension torsion strap, and the Active Vibration Control (AVC) System;

Mecaer Aviation Group for a fully retractable, tail dragger landing gear system;

MOOG Inc. for flight control computer (FCC) electronics, software, and flight control actuation, critical components of the Bell fly-by-wire, Flight Control System (FCS);

TRU Simulation + Training for a high-fidelity flight simulator that gives pilots a true sense of the aircraft flight controls;

Team Invictus is applying digital design and manufacturing technologies, including maintenance as part of the design process, and use of emerging commercial practices to bring a holistic view of digital models, processing and analysis to reduce lifecycle maintenance and servicing requirements—and thus reducing sustainment costs.

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