The industry typically waits for the US military to define a requirement or award a contract before launching an aircraft into low-rate production, but Boeing began assembling the first of 21 new A160s on 15 March, says programme manager Ernie Wattam.
The white-tail A160s will start being available for sale or leased as a service to military and government agencies starting in early 2011.
Manufacturing has been relocated from Victorville, California, to Boeing's military rotorcraft hub in Mesa, Arizona,...