Héroux-Devtek Inc. (TSX: HRX), a leading Canadian manufacturer of aerospace and industrial products today announced that Industry Canada is making a $27-million repayable contribution for the research and development of Héroux-Devtek's advanced landing gear technologies. The funds will be used as part of the Company's $77-million project to improve the reliability and performance of landing gear systems, as well as reducing their impact on the environment. The investment will be over a six year period. The contribution received will become gradually repayable effective one year after the completion of the project.

The $27 million investment is being made through the Government of Canada's Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI), which supports strategic industrial research and pre-competitive development projects in the aerospace, defence, space, and security industries.

The ambitious Héroux-Devtek project is multi-faceted. In addition to exploring materials and manufacturing processes to improve the performance and reduce the environmental footprint of landing gear, the Company will also develop landing gear components for the next generation of aircraft, such as in-flight monitoring and electronic systems. These technologies will make landing gear more secure and reliable, and will help detect problems before they occur.

Gilles Labbé, President and CEO of Héroux-Devtek, stated that R&D is crucial to the continued success of the Company. "We have committed about 4% of our annual revenues to the development of new products and technologies. This has helped us win three new major landing gear programs over the past 15 months alone. We welcome this opportunity to partner with the federal government through SADI. This will enable us to enhance our design and manufacturing capabilities in order to more efficiently integrate landing gear components into complete systems. This will allow the Company to expand its role as a supplier of fully integrated systems, in addition to being a supplier of components."

The project will have a positive economic impact on both the Metropolitan Montreal and Kitchener, Ontario regions where Héroux-Devtek has manufacturing facilities.