Bell Textron is gearing up to pour roughly $70 million into retooling a big factory in north Fort Worth so it can build the U.S. Army’s next-generation MV‑75 vertical-lift aircraft. The project would overhaul a roughly 447,000-square-foot industrial shell at 15100 N. Beach St, turning it into a production and assembly hub. Construction is set to kick off in April, with an addition scheduled to wrap up by early 2027. This remodel is one piece of Bell’s larger Dallas-Fort Worth build-out tied to the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program.
Those specifics, including the $70 million estimate and the April start date, are laid out in a recent filing reviewed by the Fort Worth Report. The filing details the planned remodel of the building, along with an addition meant to prep the site for MV‑75 component work and testing. It also spells out the developer’s projected construction timeline and the associated permit requests for the retooling effort.
Public commercial listings identify the property at 15100 N Beach St as a single-story manufacturing shell of about 447,000 square feet in the AllianceTexas/NE Tarrant submarket. A listing on LoopNet notes that the site covers more than 34 acres and offers extensive parking and dock access, features Bell has cited as necessary for high-volume component production.
Back in December 2024, Bell publicly announced plans for roughly a $632 million investment in North Fort Worth to manufacture parts for the MV‑75, tied to state and local incentives and an expected 520 full-time jobs with an average salary near $85,000. The Dallas Morning News reported that the plan relies on Texas’ JETI incentive program along with local approvals.
What the MV‑75 Is
The MV‑75 is the Army’s designation for Bell’s V‑280 tiltrotor, which is being developed as the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. It is expected to handle tactical assault, MEDEVAC and long-range resupply missions. The Army has described the platform as able to fly “twice as far, twice as fast” than legacy UH‑60 Black Hawk helicopters, a capability the service says will extend operational reach for air assault and casualty evacuation missions. The Army has emphasized digital engineering and prototype testing as central to the program.
Why It Matters Locally
Turning the Alliance-area shell into a parts and assembly hub would further anchor defense manufacturing in North Fort Worth and bring both short-term construction work and a longer ramp of skilled production jobs. Local reporting and project filings show Bell has sought city, county and state incentives that are tied to investment and hiring benchmarks, and local officials have framed the plan as a multidecade economic play for the region. The Fort Worth Report covered the original investment announcement and the incentive package approved by local bodies.
Timeline and National Context
The MV‑75 program has been moving forward under an initial $1.3 billion engineering and manufacturing development contract that includes options and long-term procurement, which industry estimates say could reach into the tens of billions of dollars over the program’s lifecycle. Industry tracking shows Bell positioning component work and new facilities across DFW and other U.S. locations as it heads toward prototype flights and low-rate initial production in the late 2020s. Defense Daily has closely followed the procurement and investment timeline.
Bell’s latest filing turns what has largely been a long-running program on paper into a visible construction project in North Fort Worth, one that will draw attention as permit reviews and incentive conditions are tested in real time. Nearby residents are likely to feel the immediate impact through site work and construction traffic. For the broader region, the bigger question will be whether the promised jobs and supplier activity materialize on schedule as the MV‑75 moves from digital models into physical aircraft.
