Jessica Reed is a writer and editor with AIN. She joined the team in the fall of 2023 after two years covering the aviation industry at Avionics International. She earned her bachelor&#039;s degree in English (Writing &amp; Rhetoric) from Pepperdine University. Her hometown is St. Louis, Missouri, and she since has resided in Santa Barbara, California, and Brooklyn, New York, among others. She is currently based in Philadelphia.

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Bell delivered 20 commercial helicopters in the first quarter, down from 29 in the same period last year, as a sharp drop in commercial volume offset continued ramp-up of the MV-75 Cheyenne military tiltrotor program. Despite the decline in commercial deliveries, the rotorcraft manufacturer’s overall revenues climbed 9% to $1.1 billion, up $87 million from first-quarter 2025.
The revenue increase was driven by higher military revenues of $161 million, primarily reflecting growth on the U.S. Army’s MV-75 program, partially offset by reduced volume on V-22 production and military sustainment programs. Commercial revenues, by contrast, fell $74 million year over year.
First-quarter commercial deliveries included twelve 505s, five 407s, and three 429s, with zero 412s shipped in the period. This compares with first-quarter 2025 deliveries of twelve 505s, eleven 407s, three 429s, and three 412s. On the military side, Bell shipped two V-22s and no H-1s in first-quarter 2026—the same as in first-quarter 2025.
Bell’s segment profit of $72 million was down $18 million from a year ago, reflecting an unfavorable impact from the mix of military programs along with the lower commercial volume and mix. Backlog for Bell at the end of the quarter stood at $7.6 billion.
Textron Inc. CFO David Rosenberg said the commercial side should normalize over the balance of the year. “We were off on commercial helicopter deliveries; some of that was timing of deliveries and contract milestones, and some was delays in finishing up the last couple of helicopters for the quarter,” he said during Textron’s earnings call yesterday. “We would expect the commercial side to normalize throughout the year, similar to patterns you’ve seen over the last couple of years, with a peak in Q4.”
Rosenberg added that the cadence over the next three quarters should produce overall margin improvement, “particularly because you’ll have higher commercial volume,” getting the segment to its full-year guide of between 8% and 9%.
<h3>MV-75 Cheyenne Advances</h3>
Textron Inc. CEO Lisa Atherton highlighted Bell’s continued progress on the MV-75 program, which the U.S. Army has now officially named the Cheyenne. “This underscores the Army’s continued commitment and marks a pivotal moment for the program,” she said. All subsystem critical design reviews (CDR) have been executed with the exception of the weapons system CDR, which Atherton said is expected to be completed later this summer.
The Army is also preparing for tiltrotor operations in advance of fielding aircraft, with V-22s supporting the 101st Airborne Division in training exercises designed to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures that take advantage of the additional range and speed offered by the platform.
Atherton said the Trump Administration’s recently proposed fiscal year 2027 budget calls for a significant increase in defense spending, including for the MV-75. The Future Years Defense Program calls for $2.3 billion of MV-75 funding in FY2027, scaling to $3.8 billion in FY2031 across research, development, test, and evaluation, as well as procurement. The procurement budget shows quantities of eight units in FY2028, scaling to 12, then 20, then 27 in FY2031, “consistent with the Secretary of the Army’s direction to accelerate the program,” Atherton said.
<h3>Other Military Programs</h3>
During the quarter, Bell completed the critical design review on the DARPA X-Plane program, now designated the X-76. “Bell will now begin building a brand-new X-Plane with first-of-its-kind stop-fold technology,” Atherton said.
Bell was also recently down-selected to the fourth and final phase of the Flight School Next competition, a new program to train Army aviators at Fort Rucker. As part of this phase, Bell conducted flight simulator and digital twin demonstrations at Redstone Arsenal. Atherton said the Army is expected to select a winner later this summer. The opportunity leverages Bell’s 505 helicopter and is positioned as a potential growth driver for the company over a horizon of 25 years.
Looking further out, Atherton pointed to additional sustainment-related upside on the H-1 and V-22 programs. “There is still a lot of work going on on the H-1 and V-22 platforms and the sustainment of those platforms for the coming decades,” she said, noting the V-22 improvement program as well as the structural improvement and electrical power upgrade program for the H-1.
<h3>Commercial Order Activity</h3>
While first-quarter commercial deliveries were soft, Atherton said order intake at both Aviation and Bell was healthy. “They had their best Q1 bookings in four years, frankly, since Q1 of 2022,” she said.
On the commercial side, Bell received a purchase order for seven 407GXis from South Africa’s National Transmission Company during the quarter. Atherton also pointed to the Bell 525, which is positioned to be the first commercial fly-by-wire helicopter, as a longer-term commercial growth driver. “As the 525 platform reaches its certification and moves into the commercial backlog, we’ll start to see strong growth there toward the back end of this decade and beginning of next,” she said.
Textron’s first-quarter results coincided with the company’s announcement that it intends to separate its industrial segment from its aerospace and defense businesses, leaving Bell, Textron Aviation, and Textron Systems as the core franchises of what Atherton described as “new Textron.” Across the company, first-quarter revenues totaled $3.7 billion, up 12%, and adjusted earnings per share were $1.45, up from $1.28 a year earlier. Total backlog stood at $19.2 billion, all of it tied to the aerospace and defense businesses.
“Bell is at the forefront of an outsized growth stage as the MV-75 Cheyenne program ramps,” Atherton said. “The business is positioned to significantly increase its revenue as we move from development to production over the next few years and benefit from the Army’s planned production run of over 25 years.”

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

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