Bell plans to add about 200 jobs at its Amarillo assembly plant this year, as it gears up to meet expected demand for the V-22 Osprey. Some of the positions will be for engineers and other technical personnel now based at Fort Worth plants, confirmed a Bell spokesman, but “most of those positions [in Amarillo] will be new hires,” he said.  

Bell assembles the V-22 in Amarillo, is preparing to take on the U.S. Marine Corps’ UH-1Y and Zulu Cobra program and, if successful in the competition currently nearing its climax, will build the US-101 for the U.S. President.

Bell currently has 630 employees on its Amarillo payroll and about 6,100 in Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and Arlington. The corporation plans to assemble all its military aircraft in Amarillo but will continue to manufacture many of the components and systems for them in the Fort Worth area.