Aircraft components specialist Héroux-Devtek Inc. has a new five-year contract from The Boeing Company to manufacture landing gear for the H-47 Chinook medium-to-heavy-lift helicopter. The manufacturer will fabricate 155 landing gear units, from early 2014 through 2019, for all Chinook aircraft destined to the U.S. Army.
The contract also includes options, at Boeing's discretion, to fabricate the landing gear for up to 150 additional aircraft over the same period.
Héroux-Devtek Inc., Longueuil, Que., designs, manufactures, and repairs a range of aerospace products, including landing gear systems and components; hydraulic actuators; flight controls; rotor hubs; torque tubes; and steering actuators.
It is the world’s third-largest manufacturer of landing gear, performing operations like precision machining of large and complex components, injection drilling, CNC boring, CNC lathe and GAP lathe capabilities, and grinding. It has operations in Longueuil, Laval, and St-Hubert, Que.; Kitchener and Toronto, Ont.; and Springfield and Cleveland, Ohio.
Héroux-Devtek noted this is its third agreement involving the H-47 program. The Chinook is a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter that has been in use by the U.S. Army since 1962 for troop movement, artillery emplacement, and battlefield resupply.
In the first order for the CH-147 program, in 2009, Héroux-Devtek undertook fabrication, assembly, testing and delivery of the landing gear for H-47F aircraft delivered to customers outside the United States, including the CH-147, as it is known for the Canadian Forces.
A second agreement, announced in September, licensed the company to offer its fabricating services for replacement parts, and repair and overhaul services for the landing gear of all Chinook variants.
"Héroux-Devtek is proud to have been selected to carry out this significant mandate which further increases our reach on the H-47 program," stated Héroux-Devtek’s president and CEO Gilles Labbé. "This additional contract firmly positions Héroux-Devtek as the leading landing gear supplier on this important and longstanding program. We are delighted that Boeing recognizes our capability to manufacture high-quality, complete landing gear assemblies, while also showing full confidence in our ability to efficiently respond should options be exercised."
