AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom: Navy Funds $114.7M Power Upgrade
The Navy has exercised a $114.7 million option with Bell for SPINE kits that add electrical power and strength to Marine AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters.
The U.S. Navy has ordered the next batch of hardware to rewire and strengthen the Marine Corps’ AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters. In its contract announcements for 30 October, the Pentagon said Bell Textron of Fort Worth, Texas, received a $114,692,840 modification to contract N0001926C0140, exercising an option on the “H-1 structural and power improvements for Next-Gen Effects Phase III” effort.
The order buys 15 A-kits, four mission kits and nine aircraft installations, plus long-lead and time-critical components, materials, labor and spares. The announcement says the work supports “electrical power upgrades and structural improvements” to both helicopters. The modification mixes fixed-price-incentive, firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing, and all of the money comes from fiscal 2027 Navy aircraft procurement funds, obligated at award. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at Patuxent River, Maryland, awarded it without competition. Work is split mainly between Fort Worth (38.1%) and Amarillo, Texas (28.7%), with smaller shares at supplier sites in seven other states and elsewhere, and is due to finish in June 2028.
What SPINE is
Bell and the Marine Corps call the program SPINE, short for Structural and Power Improvements for NextGen Effects. It was previously called SIEPU, the Structural Improvement and Electrical Power Upgrade. In a 27 July release announcing the Phase 3.0 contract, Bell said the base award plus three option years is worth an estimated $300 million and covers up to 49 aircraft: 28 AH-1Zs and 21 UH-1Ys. Modification work at Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center is set to start in mid-2027, with the first upgraded helicopters delivered in 2028.
SPINE does not add a weapon or a sensor by itself. According to Bell, it raises the aircraft’s electrical power capacity and creates an “advanced and scalable architecture” for integrating new equipment. Bell ties it to what the Marine Corps calls Series A, which the company defines as improved defensive systems, digital interoperability and more electrical power. Bell lists the intended Series A content as stronger defensive systems, an advanced data bus, the Link 16 tactical data link and long-range, net-enabled weapons. For the UH-1Y, Bell also cites mission kit improvements to the fast rope, hoist and litter kit used for personnel recovery.
Bell’s release goes further, saying that by flying below “radar resolution cells,” Series A helicopters “will be undetectable to enemy radar” while receiving targeting data from fixed-wing aircraft outside enemy missile range. That is a manufacturer’s claim about a concept of operations; it has not been demonstrated in combat, and the Navy’s 30 October announcement makes no such statement.
The first two aircraft, one AH-1Z and one UH-1Y, left Amarillo after 19 months of electrical and structural work, Bell said on 17 March. They went to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for flight tests that, according to Bell, will determine the final SPINE configuration for the fleet.
Key specs
| Item | AH-1Z Viper | UH-1Y Venom |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Attack helicopter | Utility helicopter |
| Engines | 2 x GE T700-GE-401C, 1,800 shp each | 2 x GE T700-GE-401C, 1,800 shp each |
| Max takeoff weight | 18,500 lb | 18,500 lb |
| Crew | 2 (pilot, co-pilot/gunner) | Up to 12, incl. 8 combat-equipped Marines |
| Weapons stations | 6 wing stores (up to 16 precision-guided munitions) | Wide range of weapon and mission configurations |
| Initial operational capability | February 2011 | August 2008 |
| Inventory (NAVAIR, March 2026) | 189 | 160 |
| SPINE Phase 3.0 aircraft (Bell) | 28 | 21 |
*Specifications from NAVAIR’s AH-1Z and UH-1Y product pages and the Navy’s H-1 fact file. The two types share 85% of their parts, according to NAVAIR.*
Why Bell is the only bidder
The H-1 Upgrades program began in 1996, and U.S. domestic production of the UH-1Y ended in 2020 and of the AH-1Z in 2022, according to the Navy fact file. SPINE is therefore a modification of existing airframes rather than a new build. In an August notice for a separate modification to the same contract, NAVAIR explained why it treats Bell as the only source: the government holds unlimited data rights to the SIEPU technical data package but lacks license rights to Bell’s process specifications and standards. NAVAIR estimated that qualifying another company would take eight years, based on past H-1 upgrade data, which it called an “unacceptable delay.”
Why it matters
Analysis, based on the sources cited in this article:
Electrical power and structural margin limit what new equipment these helicopters can carry, which is why this upgrade comes before the weapons. The clearest example of what is coming is the Precision Attack Strike Munition. In January NAVAIR awarded L3Harris $86.2 million to deliver the weapon for the AH-1Z by the end of fiscal 2027. USNI News reported that L3Harris’s Red Wolf and Green Wolf missiles in that package can reach targets up to 200 nautical miles away, a figure USNI described as a substantial increase over the Viper’s existing munitions. Nothing in the 30 October announcement links SPINE to a specific weapon, but Bell’s own description of Series A points to exactly this kind of networked, long-range strike role.
That role fits the Marine Corps’ growing focus on maritime strike and area denial around the First Island Chain, alongside ground systems such as the NMESIS anti-ship missile launcher and new vehicles like the Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Col. Jason Duke, NAVAIR’s H-1 program manager, said in Bell’s July release that SPINE will “ensure the H-1 fleet will continue to be relevant into the 2040s.”
Scale is the open question. The 49 aircraft in Phase 3.0 equal about 14% of the 349 Vipers and Venoms NAVAIR lists, and this option pays for nine installations. Bell says it expects to support modification of the H-1 fleet “over the next decade,” but neither the Navy nor the Marine Corps has published a fleet-wide SPINE quantity or total cost.
What to watch: results of the Patuxent River flight tests; the start of Amarillo inductions in mid-2027 and first deliveries in 2028; how many more options the Navy exercises; and when the Series A equipment that SPINE is built to power gets its own funding.
Sources
- U.S. Department of War, Contracts for Oct. 30, 2026, 30 October 2026.
- Bell / Textron, Bell Awarded Contract for SPINE Upgrades to H-1 Fleet, 27 July 2026.
- Bell, Bell Completes SPINE Upgrades on First Two H-1 Aircraft, 17 March 2026.
- NAVAIR, AH-1Z Viper, updated March 2026.
- USNI News, Marines Attack Helicopters to Get Long-Range Maritime Strike, Electronic Warfare Missile, 3 February 2026.
Additional sources
- NAVAIR, UH-1Y Venom, updated March 2026.
- U.S. Navy, AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom Helicopters fact file.
- SAM.gov, H-1 SPINE 3.0 Security Requirements / Delta PRR presolicitation notice, 12 August 2026.
- NAVAIR, Marine Corps fast-tracks contract for new Precision Attack Strike Missile, 30 January 2026.
- Defense News, US Marine attack helicopters to field long-range missiles by 2027, 4 February 2026.
- Defence Blog, U.S. Navy orders $114.7M power upgrade for H-1 helicopters, 31 October 2026.
