Exclusive: Rolls-Royce begins MV-75 engine tests in Indiana

• Testing is underway at Rolls-Royce's facilities in Indianapolis, its largest stateside footprint.

Zoom in: Each MV-75 will be fitted with two AE 1107F engines.

• Candice Bineyard, director of U.S. business development and future programs, described them in a statement to Axios as "ultra-modern" and "low risk."
• They're the latest in the AE line, which has 80% commonality across variants, according to the company. That can smooth supply chain wrinkles.

Catch up quick: Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus earlier this year revealed the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, would be the first to receive the Bell Textron-made aircraft.

• "This aircraft changes how we move forces. More importantly, it changes the geometry of ground combat," he said at the time. "And we're not waiting for a distant out-year to make this thing real."
• Bell Textron in 2022 beat a Sikorsky-Boeing team for the contract. The Government Accountability Office denied a protest the following year.

Fun fact: The MV-75 designation refers to its multi-mission design, its vertical-takeoff-and-landing capabilities and the Army's founding in 1775.

Zoom out: Rolls-Royce is the world's 25th largest defense contractor by revenue, according to Defense News analysis.

Go deeper: Army seeks "65-year change" in weapons trying and buying