Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, has announced the grand opening of its Weapon Systems Integration Lab (WSIL) in Arlington, TX. This state-of-the-art facility will play a crucial role in integrating and testing next-generation fly-by-wire aircraft and mission systems for the United States Army.
Ryan Ehinger, Bell’s Senior Vice President and Program Director, expressed the company's commitment to delivering advanced aircraft and modular open systems capabilities to the nation's warfighters. "This dedicated SIL supports the application, verification, and validation of Bell’s innovative digital engineering approach and open architecture, playing a critical role in delivering outstanding operational performance and versatility to the warfighter," he said.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross highlighted the city’s support for innovation, stating, "We are grateful for our partnership with Bell, who has made Arlington the home of its Flight Research Center for nearly six decades now."
The WSIL, located at Bell’s Flight Research Center, is the company's fifth-generation System Integration Lab. It facilitates the integration of fly-by-wire systems with various avionics, electrical, hydraulic, and mission and sensor systems for both manned and unmanned programs.
The project marks a milestone as the first funded and approved by the Arlington Economic Development Corporation (AEDC). Marty Wieder, Executive Director of the AEDC, emphasized the importance of the project in creating high-quality jobs and bolstering the engineering, aerospace, and aviation sectors in the region.
“This serves as a great poster child for others who come knocking on the door of the corporation and want to talk about being considered for investment,” Wieder said. “It provides a great opportunity for us to hold up to others and say, 'this is the type of investment we thought was important for our very first project.' So that'll help us in being able to point back to Bell and others as this is the type of quality we want to see in Arlington, Texas.”
