VERIFICATION

MV-75 Gets $200 Million for Prototypes as the CR Restricts Long-Lead Production Money

Verified as of October 13, 2026

Modern Warfighter reviewed the primary records and attributed reporting behind each consequential claim in this brief. A Confirmed claim is stated in the cited primary record or calculated directly from it. A Qualified claim is supported, with its limitation noted beside it.

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Verified Claims

Implemented budget action

Confirmed. The Comptroller lists FY26-16 PA under Implemented Reprogramming Actions for FY2026. The signed September 28 notice adds $200.246 million to PE 0605241A, Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development, in Army RDT&E, 26/27. The implemented listing is the status evidence used here. Committee response letters and individual approval dates were outside this review.

Records: Comptroller, Implemented Reprogramming Actions, FY2026 and FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

Revised program arithmetic

Qualified. The notice, stated in thousands of dollars, shows a $1,220.568 million program base, the same amount previously approved, and the $200.246 million increase. Its printed revised program of $1,422.814 million exceeds that sum of $1,420.814 million by $2.000 million, and the notice leaves the difference unexplained. The brief reports only the verified increase.

Record: FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

MV-75 Cheyenne II naming

Confirmed. Bell’s April 15 naming release identifies the MV-75 Cheyenne II and quotes the Army project manager using that form. The Army’s April 15 announcement uses Cheyenne II in its image caption and Cheyenne in its main text. Both forms appear in official material, and the brief uses the full name on first reference.

Records: Bell, April 15, 2026 and U.S. Army, April 15, 2026

Intended mission

Confirmed. The Army’s naming announcement says the aircraft will enable “long-range air assault missions from safer distances.” That is an intended role, separate from demonstrated performance.

Record: U.S. Army, April 15, 2026

Exhausted funds and continued work

Confirmed. Textron’s July filing says available FY2026 program funding was substantially exhausted in mid-July and that work continued at the company’s own risk. The same note discloses headcount reductions, furloughs and reduced supplier spending during the second quarter, with some measures continuing into the third. The brief keeps the workforce measures in the quarters the filing assigns them.

Records: Textron, Form 10-Q, Note 12, printed p. 20 and Textron, Note 12 extract

Stop-work descriptions

Qualified. Textron describes a May 8 Army letter saying the government did not plan to issue a stop-work order. The letter also advised Bell to stop if allotted funds ran out before additional funding was approved and obligated. The September notice uses the phrase “forced stop-work” for mid-July. The original May letter and any July order were unavailable to this review, so whether a formal order was issued, and which work stopped, remains unconfirmed.

Records: Textron, Note 12 extract and FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

Prototypes and planned production

Confirmed. The September notice ties the funding to continued development and testing, including building eight MV-75 prototype aircraft in preparation for production in FY2028. It also cites higher costs from the prime vendor and critical suppliers. These are the action’s stated purposes, and prototype delivery status was outside this review.

Record: FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

Availability during the CR

Confirmed. The increase sits in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Army, 26/27. Division A, Title IV of Public Law 119-75 makes that appropriation available for obligation through September 30, 2027. Section 102 of the CR restricts funds and authority provided under its Section 101, which leaves this FY2026 balance available for obligation during the CR. September 30, 2027 is an obligation deadline, separate from when payments are made.

Records: FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1, P.L. 119-75, Division A, Title IV and P.L. 119-103, Division A, Section 102

The July action

Qualified. The September notice identifies the earlier action as FY26-11 PA, July 2026, and says the requirement was approved with insufficient approved sources to finance it. The brief describes those sources as cuts elsewhere. That supports approval of a need, separate from any amount implemented or added to Bell’s contract. The original July action was unavailable to this review, and reported details including a $230.5 million increase and a July 29 approval date appear nowhere in the September notice.

Record: FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1 and highlighting key

Contract obligation and staffing

Qualified. Textron’s July filing says additional funding must be approved and obligated through a contract modification before it covers work beyond the allotted funds. The implemented budget action leaves that contract step unestablished. A contract modification and a later staffing disclosure showing an end to the furloughs remain unlocated.

Records: Textron, Form 10-Q, Note 12, printed pp. 19–20 and Textron, Note 12 extract

The April $350 million notice

Qualified. Textron’s first-quarter filing describes an April 28 Army Contracting Command notice seeking $350 million in additional funding for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, following the Army’s acceleration directive. It also describes planned spending reductions to extend available funding. The original Army notice was unavailable to this review. How much of the $350 million the September action covers, and whether other funds made up the rest, remains unestablished.

Record: Textron, first-quarter Note 12

FY2026 budget baseline

Confirmed. The FY2027 R-1, line 157, separates discretionary enacted money from the Public Law 119-21 spend plan for PE 0605241A. It lists $1,015.350 million in FY2025 actuals, $1,220.568 million in FY2026 discretionary enacted funding and a $310.000 million spend plan, for a $1,530.568 million FY2026 total. These are April figures and predate September’s action.

Records: FY2027 R-1, printed p. 14 and FY2026 DD 1414, PE 0605241A

Reconciliation-law plan

Confirmed. The FY2026 Mandatory Funding Allocation Plan assigns $310 million to next-generation vertical lift, assault and intra-theater aeromedical evacuation aircraft, and its justification identifies MV-75 acceleration in Army RDT&E. The September notice’s program base matches the R-1’s $1,220.568 million discretionary figure, which places September’s increase in the regular appropriation. Obligation of the $310 million to Bell was outside this review.

Records: FY2026 Mandatory Funding Allocation Plan, FY2027 R-1, printed p. 14 and FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

Requested development increase

Confirmed. The R-1 lists a $2,140.569 million FY2027 request, all discretionary. Modern Warfighter calculates that as $920.001 million above the $1,220.568 million FY2026 discretionary enacted amount. The comparison measures the request against the regular appropriation alone, apart from the reconciliation-law plan.

Record: FY2027 R-1, printed p. 14

Enacted continuing resolution

Confirmed. Public Law 119-103, approved September 2, 2026, provides FY2027 continuing appropriations in Division A. Section 101 generally funds operations at FY2026 rates, and Section 106 ends that funding December 11 unless full-year appropriations arrive sooner. Its exceptions name neither the MV-75 nor FLRAA, so the requested increase awaits full-year appropriations. A program-specific apportionment was outside this review.

Record: P.L. 119-103, Division A, Sections 101 and 106

Funding chart values

Confirmed. The chart rounds the R-1 figures to one decimal place and shows September’s $200.246 million addition as its own bar. The $920.0 million bracket is the calculation above. Each bar is a separate budget figure, and the chart leaves them uncombined. The values are budget authority, separate from cash paid to Bell.

Records: FY2027 R-1, printed p. 14 and FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

April first-flight caution

Qualified. Breaking Defense’s April 15 report quotes Maj. Gen. Clair Gill saying, “It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen,” as he declined to commit to first-flight and production dates. The report also carries his warning that unpredictable funding “kills any momentum” and strains sub-tier suppliers. These are attributed remarks in reported coverage, and the brief dates them to April.

Record: Breaking Defense, April 15, 2026

Advance procurement and new-start classification

Qualified. The FY2027 P-1, line 9, requests $127.217 million in Aircraft Procurement, Army for Future Vertical Lift Family of Systems advance procurement, with blank FY2026 columns. The Army procurement book identifies the line as an FY2027 new start, and Exhibit P-40 assigns it to MV-75 long-lead materials and government-furnished equipment for the first production lot of eight aircraft planned for FY2028. Exhibit P-10 splits the request into $121.554 million for contractor-furnished equipment and $5.663 million for government-furnished equipment. The full book was unavailable for download, so P-40 and P-10 were checked through indexed excerpts of the Army’s own document.

Records: FY2027 P-1, printed pp. 11–12 and Army procurement book, LI 6761A12000, P-40 and P-10

Production aircraft and prototypes

Confirmed. The P-40’s eight production aircraft belong to the first lot planned for FY2028. The September notice’s eight prototypes are development aircraft funded through RDT&E, which makes them a separate group.

Records: Army procurement book, P-40 and FY26-16 PA, printed p. 1

Component lead times

Qualified. The P-40 justification cites contractor-furnished components and government-furnished systems with lead times exceeding 24 months, and it uses them to justify buying ahead of the FY2028 lot. This verifies the Army’s stated rationale through the indexed excerpt. Supplier delivery schedules were outside this review.

Record: Army procurement book, P-40, LI 6761A12000

CR effect on the long-lead line

Qualified. Section 102 bars CR funds from new production and from activities lacking FY2026 appropriations, funds or other authority, with P-1 line items among the covered activities. On the Army’s FY2027 new-start classification, the advance procurement line needs an exception to the CR or full-year appropriations. That is Modern Warfighter’s reading of the statute and the budget classification. A delay to Bell’s production option remains unestablished.

Records: P.L. 119-103, Division A, Section 102, Army procurement book, P-40 and FY2027 P-1, printed pp. 11–12

Production option and accounting forecast

Qualified. Textron’s July filing expected a long-lead low-rate initial production option in late 2026 or early 2027. It described the option as largely fixed price and forecast a $60 million to $110 million unfavorable cumulative catch-up adjustment because costs were higher than assumed when the program was bid. The company still expected a positive margin across the overall program. The filing identifies no funding source for the option, and an option award remains unconfirmed.