Bell Helicopter, which will be displaying the mockup of its 525 Relentless super-medium twin next week at the Farnborough International Airshow, announced key program suppliers for the new helicopter yesterday. They include GKN Aerospace and Triumph Group for airframe structure machining and composites; Kuka for major structural tooling; Goodrich for ice protection; Israel Aerospace Industries for passenger seating; and Mecaer for wheeled landing gear.

Larry Thimmesch, Bell vice president for commercial programs, said the company is transitioning from the preliminary to the detailed design phase on the 16- to 18-passenger 525. Bell unveiled the more than 18,000-pound-mtow helicopter in February at Heli-Expo. It will be powered by a pair of GE CT7-2F1 turboshafts, each generating 1,800 shp and driving an all-composite five-blade main rotor and four-blade tail rotor.

The 525 will feature the Garmin G5000H touchscreen-controlled glass-panel integrated avionics suite with four main displays and Telligence voice-command capabilities, two key components of Bell’s new ARC (awareness, react and control) cockpit. Bell is targeting certification for 2015.