Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation) or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It designs, manufactures and maintains engines for commercial and military aircraft as well as rocket engines for launch vehicles and satellites. Some of its notable developments, alone or in partnership, include the Dassault Rafale's M88 engine, the Concorde's Olympus 593, the CFM56/CFM-LEAP for single-aisle airliners, and the Ariane 5's Vulcain engine. The company employs around 15,700 people across 35 production sites, offices, and MRO facilities worldwide and files an average of nearly 500 patents each year. Safran Aircraft Engines also notably operates two joint ventures with GE Aviation: CFM International, the world’s leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines, and CFM Materials. Timeline 1945: Snecma was formed when the French aircraft engine manufacturer Gnome & Rhône was nationalised. The name 'Snecma' was an acronym for Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation (in English: 'National Company for the Research and Construction of Aviation Engines'). 1946: Initial employees were German engineers, primarily from BMW, located in Decize, France. Group was known as Groupe "O" until 1950. First design product was the ATAR engine. 1946 or 1947, the nationalized Établissments Regnier Motor Company was absorbed into Snecma and continued to produce the SNECMA Régnier 4L. 1961: Snecma and Bristol Siddeley formed a joint venture to produce a high-performance jet engine for the Concorde. The main body of the engine came from the Bristol Olympus, which was further improved with several refinements including the addition of the variable intakes necessary for supersonic flight. 1968: Snecma acquired Hispano-Suiza, Socata and Bugatti. 1970: Messier and Snecma agreed to merge their landing gear business. The following year, Messier-Hispano was formed, which was fully acquired by Snecma in 1973. Snecma's landing gear business was further consolidated by the creation of Messier-Hispano-Bugatti (later renamed Messier-Bugatti) in 1977. 1974: Snecma and General Electric (GE) created a joint venture named CFM International, beginning a long term cooperation to produce the CFM56 series of turbofan engines. 1990: Snecma announced its partnership with General Electric to build and produce the General Electric GE90 engine. 1994: Messier-Dowty was formed following the merger of the landing gear businesses of Snecma (Messier) and the British TI Group (Dowty). 1997: Snecma fully acquired the Société européenne de propulsion. 1998: Snecma took full control of