Textron Businesses to Highlight Several of their Advanced Commercial & Defense Products at FIDAE 2016

Santiago, Chile (March 29, 2016) – Bell Helicopter, Textron AirLand, Textron Aviation Inc. and Textron Systems, all businesses of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), have announced their plans for the 19th edition of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE 2016) in Santiago, Chile, held March 29 through April 3, 2016. Textron will be displaying in Chalet C2 – C6.

For more than 35 years, FIDAE has brought together experts from diverse industry sectors, including civil and commercial aviation, defense, aircraft maintenance, airport support services and equipment, space technology and homeland security. This Latin American trade show works to provide the perfect environment for meetings and collaborations among professionals from the varied fields in aerospace and defense.

Bell Helicopter

Bell Helicopter invites attendees to the Textron chalet. Within the booth, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from subject matter experts while seeing several of Bell Helicopter’s advanced commercial products, including:

Additionally, Bell Helicopter will provide customer demonstration flights in the Bell 407GXP.

“With Bell Helicopter’s longstanding history in Latin America, FIDAE serves as an integral opportunity for us to build upon that legacy,” said Jay Ortiz, Bell Helicopter’s vice president of Latin American sales. “We look forward to showcasing how our products are ideally suited for the diverse climate and geography across Latin America and offer the advanced technology, performance and safety for any mission.”

Textron AirLand

Making its first FIDAE appearance, the Scorpion jet will be on display in the Textron chalet. Designed and built with commercial practices, the Scorpion is truly unique in the ISR and Strike market.  Scorpion is a highly affordable military jet with a target production cost of approximately $20M and an hourly operating cost that has proven lower than US$3,000. It is also very versatile in terms of mission flexibility:  a 73 cubic foot / 2 cubic meter centerline payload bay and open electronic architecture allows for multiple “plug and play” sensor types to be employed, and quickly reconfigured without impacting operational tempo. Using commercially designed twin engines, the Scorpion combines high dash speeds, extended endurance, and loiter time at cruise speeds.  Production of the first conforming aircraft began last year and first flight of this production aircraft is expected this summer.

Textron Aviation & Beechcraft Defense Company

Textron Aviation and its Beechcraft Defense Company will highlight their commercial, special mission and defense products at the show, including:

“We are excited to showcase our versatile product line at FIDAE this year, highlighting our jet and turboprop aircraft that continue to lead the Latin American market,” said Bob Gibbs, vice president of Sales, Latin America and Caribbean. “With over 2,600 Textron Aviation products in the region we are continuing to find innovative solutions for our customers and expand our service offerings.”

Making its show debut at this year’s FIDAE airshow is Textron Aviation’s most recently certified business jet – the Cessna Citation Latitude. With a range of 2,850 nautical miles, the Citation Latitude affords the most open, spacious, bright and refined cabin environment in the midsize category. Since entering the market two years ago, the Cessna Citation M2 has quickly become the best-selling business jet in its class, with over 100 aircraft delivered around the world.

With the industry’s broadest lineup of special mission platforms, Textron Aviation offers a full suite of products that fit a variety of mission profiles such as maritime patrol, air ambulance, float operations, training, utility transport and more. The King Air 350ER and Grand Caravan EX on display feature a unique set of interior configurations, highlighting the versatility of the Textron Aviation turboprop aircraft.

Beechcraft Defense offers a versatile lineup of military platforms including the Beechcraft T-6 Texan, the world-leading military flight trainer, and the Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine light attack aircraft, both backed by the industry’s most capable global service network.

Textron Systems

Textron Systems will exhibit its proven unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), advanced information solutions (AIS) and smart weapons systems designed to serve the needs of militaries, security forces and other customers around the globe.

In the area of UAS, Textron Systems will feature the expeditionary Aerosonde^™ Small Unmanned Aircraft System (SUAS), which offers proven multi-mission performance in both military and commercial land-and-sea based applications. The Aerosonde is also equipped for real-time, full-motion video and communications relay within a single flight, and offers dedicated space and power to integrate additional capabilities based on customer requirements.  

In the area of AIS, Textron Systems will display the iCommand^® Suite, which provides a real-time, cross-domain operational picture, along with touch-screen speed for contingency planning, decision making and asset management. Medina, a Windows based software product that provides sophisticated wireless telecommunications-based understanding by mining and analyzing user-collected commercial wireless communications network traffic and events, will also be on display. Additionally, Textron Systems’ IMPACT™ will be featured. Challenged by ever changing criminal and terrorist activities and an increasing quantity of data to manage, investigators rely on Advanced Information Solutions' IMPACT solution to more easily collect, analyze and manage the data that supports their investigative analysis. 

 In the area of smart weapons, Textron Systems will exhibit its advanced G-CLAW™ and Fury^® Precision Guided Munitions (PGM). The lightweight G-CLAW munition offers precision guidance through GPS-corrected navigation and Semi-Active Laser terminal guidance as well as flexible delivery options from a variety of aircraft systems and multi-mission employment options for land and sea targets. The Fury PGM delivers a precision strike capability against both soft targets and static or moving vehicles. The small, lightweight glide weapon is designed for carriage on multiple platforms. Fury utilizes Semi-Active Laser (SAL) seeker and GPS guidance, and is proven in testing to be accurate within one meter of a designated target.

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Press Contacts:

Bell Helicopter

Textron Aviation and Textron Airland

Textron Systems