WASHINGTON (AFX) - The U.S Navy on Tuesday awarded Bell-Boeing a contract valued at more than $23 million to convert an MV-22 Osprey into an aircraft maintenance trainer.
Ospreys are designed to deploy on their own to locations instead of being loaded aboard ships to be hauled to deployment sites. The first Osprey are expected to deploy for combat next year.
Bell-Boeing is a partnership between Bell Helicopter, a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Textron Inc., and Boeing Co., the world's largest aerospace company.
Work on the contract, which modifies an existing award, is expected to be completed in August 2008.
Shares of Boeing fell 94 cents to close at $73.78 Tuesday, while shares of Textron dipped $1.07 to end at $84.35, both on the New York Stock Exchange.
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