Heroux-Devtek Inc., a leading international manufacturer of aerospace products, today announced that it has signed a long-term contract with Hanwha Corporation of the Republic of Korea for the Design and Development phase of the KF-X fighter aircraft. This contract follows the signature of a Memorandum of Agreement with Hanwha, announced on February 17, 2016.

Under the terms of the contract, Heroux-Devtek is engaging with Hanwha in the Design and Development phase to jointly develop the landing gear system for the KF-X aircraft. Engineering, testing and qualification will be performed at the Corporation's engineering facilities located in Runcorn, UK and St-Hubert, Québec. Engineering work has already begun and will be spread out over several years.

The South Korean government has contracted Korea Aerospace Industry ("KAI") to develop the KF-X, a 4.5th generation fighter, while Héroux-Devtek and Hanwha are developing the aircraft's landing gear system for KAI. Based on current program expectations, mass production should start in 2023 and the first production aircraft should be delivered in 2026 with 120 fighters expected to be produced by 2032.

"The signature of this long-term contract confirms our participation on a new program that expands our global reach in the landing gear market. It also further enhances Héroux-Devtek's reputation as a leading provider of integrated landing gear solutions for the world's largest aerospace companies and we look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Hanwha, one of South Korea's leading aerospace systems manufacturers. Our strong engineering team is eager to demonstrate its world-class capabilities in the design and development of complete landing gear systems for various types of aircraft," said Martin Brassard, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Héroux-Devtek.