Bell Begins Work on US Marine Corps Reset Maintenance Contract

(Bedford, TX., March 4, 2009) -- Bell Aerospace Services Inc. (BellAero), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that it has begun work on a multi-year contract with a projected total value of $173 million, as a subcontract member of a team led by PKL Services Inc of Poway, Calif. The team is currently providing selected organizational-level maintenance (Reset) for Lot 3 and Lot 4 of U.S. Marine Corps rotary wing aircraft.

"We are very proud that U.S. Marine Corps has selected the team led by PKL Services for this crucial task of aircraft reset and field maintenance support," said Randy Pilling, BellAero Support Services general manager. "This award further validates the confidence that the U.S. Marine Corps and PKL Services have in the value that BellAero offers."


"This is also the first contracted opportunity for BellAero to prove our capability to support Boeing and Sikorsky platforms and we are eager to show how well we can perform," Pilling added. "It is indeed an honor and privilege to play a vital role in supporting the USMC as part of the PKL Services Team."

The primary goal of the USMC Reset Project contract is to optimize the material condition of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft that are participating in the Global War On Terror. The Reset Project employs a program of conditional inspections and phased maintenance which includes inspection, cleaning, corrosion treatment, servicing, disassembly, reassembly, repair and select mandatory replacement of parts.

A secondary goal of the Reset Project is to allow civilian contractors to reduce the maintenance burden on active-duty Marine maintainers by performing scheduled and unscheduled organizational level maintenance. The PKL Services, JK Hill and BellAero team will perform this work on both Lot 3 aircraft (AH-1W, UH-1N, CH-53D/E) and Lot 4 aircraft (CH-46E) at multiple locations worldwide.

Source : Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT)