Safran

If you’ve ever flown on a modern airliner, there’s a good chance you were propelled by technology from Safran. This French high-technology group is a global powerhouse in aircraft propulsion, equipment, and defense, playing a critical role in everything from the engines on best-selling jets to landing gear and space launchers. The company as we know it today was officially born in 2005 from the merger of two major French firms: Snecma, an engine manufacturer, and Sagem, an electronics specialist. But its roots dig much deeper. The story really begins in 1905, when brothers Louis, Laurent, and Augustin Seguin founded Gnome, a company that developed the world's first mass-produced rotary aircraft engine. On a parallel track, Marcel Môme founded Sagem in 1925, building a business in precision mechanical and electrical equipment. A pivotal moment came in 1945 when Gnome was nationalized by the French state to become Snecma, securing a strategic capability in jet engine manufacturing. Later, a landmark 1974 joint venture with GE created CFM International, whose CFM56 engine became the best-selling in aviation history. This partnership set the stage for its successor, the highly successful LEAP engine. The 2005 merger to create Safran was a strategic masterstroke, combining Snecma’s propulsion prowess with Sagem’s electronics and defense expertise. Since then, Safran has continued to expand, notably through the 2018 acquisition of Zodiac Aerospace, which made it a leader in aircraft interiors. Today, Safran is focused on the future of flight, heavily invested in developing more sustainable aviation technologies. With major programs like the fuel-efficient RISE open-fan engine in development with GE, the company that started with rotary engines over a century ago is now helping to define the next era of aviation.