Heroux-Devtek Inc., a leading international manufacturer of aerospace products, today announced that it has been awarded a long-term contract by Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland to supply the landing gear for the AW609 TiltRotor aircraft.

Under the terms of the agreement, Heroux-Devtek will design, develop, fabricate, assemble, test and deliver complete landing gear systems for the AW609 aircraft. This life-cycle mandate also includes the provision of spare parts. The new contract for Heroux-Devtek follows the introduction by AgustaWestland of several performance and product improvements to enhance the AW609's capabilities.

Design work is expected to begin very shortly and will be mainly carried out at the St-Hubert (Quebec) and Runcorn (UK) facilities, marking the first partnership between Heroux-Devtek's North American operations and AgustaWestland. The Corporation's European operations had previously designed and developed the landing gear for AgustaWestland's AW101 aircraft.

"This long-term contract exemplifies our world-class capabilities in providing value-added, turnkey solutions for complete landing gear systems. Heroux-Devtek has a strong engineering team and is well positioned to support design and development programs for OEMs in the aerospace industry. This new life-cycle mandate brings us closer to our objective of generating 30% of our sales from proprietary products by 2020," said Martin Brassard, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Heroux-Devtek.

"Heroux-Devtek is proud to join forces with AgustaWestland, one of the world's largest rotorcraft manufacturers, on the only commercial tiltrotor program in development to this date. This partnership also validates our strategic acquisition in Europe in 2014. The Corporation's expanded network has enhanced our relationships with leading OEMs on that continent and provided Heroux-Devtek with a solid platform for capturing business opportunities. We are looking forward to further increase our reach in the global landing gear market," added Gilles Labbe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Heroux-Devtek.

As of April 2015, almost 60 AW609 aircraft have been ordered by global customers for a variety of roles and missions, including offshore transportation, emergency medical services and patient transfer, search and rescue, as well as executive passenger transport and government duties. The AW609 development program is focused on obtaining U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification in 2017.