Textron Inc.

Background

Textron, Inc. is a multi-industry company operating aerospace, defense, industrial, and finance businesses. It was first established in 1923 as a small textile company called Special Yarns Corporation founded by Royal Little. In 1963, the company sold its textile division. By the 1990s, Textron focused on aircraft, automotives, industry, and finance and eventually expanded to international customers. As of 2026, it reportedly has 34,000 employees and operates in over 25 countries. ^{1  4  5} Textron reported 2025 revenues of $14.8 billion and estimates that 2026 revenues will be approximately $15.5 billion. ⁶

Textron World Headquarters is in Providence, Rhode Island. ⁷

Activities

Textron operates in six segments: Textron Aviation, Bell, Textron Systems, Industrial, Textron eAviation, and Finance. ⁸

Textron Aviation is the parent company of the Beechcraft and Cessna aircraft brands, which build business jets, turboprop aircraft, and trainer and utility aircraft for the military. The division’s 2024 revenues included 6 percent from U.S. government contracts. ⁹

Bell Textron builds and delivers military and commercial helicopters and tiltrotor aircraft to the U.S. government, foreign governments, and other businesses. In 2024, it delivered products to the Japan Ground Self Defense Force and the Czech Republic, and was awarded contracts from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. In 2024, 58 percent of the division’s total revenues were derived from U.S. government contracts. ¹⁰

Textron’s Industrial segment produces fuel systems and battery systems for vehicles and manufactures golf carts, off-road vehicles, powersports products, and ground-support vehicles. ¹¹

Textron Systems develops and manufactures products and services for the U.S. and international governments to support defense, homeland security, aerospace, and infrastructure protection. These include unmanned aircraft systems, live military air-to-air and air-to-ship training products, weapons, and armored and specialty vehicles. In 2024, 76 percent of the division’s revenues were from the U.S. Government and 24 percent were from other military organizations. ¹²

Textron eAviation conducts research and development on environmentalist aviation technologies, including electric aircraft. ¹³

Textron’s brands include Cessna, Beechcraft, Bell, E-Z-GO, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Textron Specialized Vehicles, Lycoming Engines, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, Howe and Howe Technologies, and Cushman. ¹⁴

Funding

U.S. Government Contracts

In January 2026, the U.S. Army awarded Textron Systems a $163.4 million contract to build and deliver Mobile Strike Force Vehicles to Ukraine. ¹⁵ It won approximately $900 million in government defense-related contracts in 2025. ⁶

Textron has a total of 238 active contracts with the U.S. government as of 2026. The largest of these include $2.6 billion to Bell Textron from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop vertical lift tactical assault aircraft for the U.S. Army and $1.3 billion to Textron Systems from the U.S. Department of Defense for LCAC 100 Class Crafts landing craft for amphibious assault landings and heavy equipment transport from ship to shore used by the U.S. Navy. ^{3  16}

USASpending.gov reports a total of 62,832 contracts awarded to Textron from nine U.S. government agencies since 2008. Awarding agencies in fiscal year 2026 include the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Justice. ¹⁷

International Contracts

In December 2025, Textron signed a contract to deliver two jet training aircraft to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the air arm of the country’s armed forces. ¹⁸

In December 2025, Sweden finalized a purchase contract for a robotic ground vehicle from Textron Systems. ¹⁹

In October 2025, Bell Textron signed letters of intent with Ukraine to supply helicopters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in coordination with the American government. ²⁰

Leadership

As of 2026, Lisa Atherton is the president CEO of Textron Inc., having been appointed on January 4 of that year following the previous president and CEO, Scott Donnelly, stepping down and serving solely as executive chairman of the board (which was appointed to in 2010). ²¹ Atherton previously served as a contracting officer for the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command. She is also a board member of Southwest Airlines, the Air Force Academy Athletic Corporation, and the Association of the U.S. Army. ^{22  23}

Scott Donnelly is the executive board chair for Textron, serving in the role since 2010. Donnelly was also the previous president and CEO for the company before retiring to serve solely as chairman following Atherton’s appointment. Prior to Textron, he held several positions with General Electric (GE) before joining Textron in 2008 as executive vice president and COO. He became Textron’s CEO in December 2009 and was elected board chair in 2010. ²⁴