and testing efforts, it was planning to construct the world's largest landing gear drop test rig at its facility in Toulouse, France. In 1999, Messier-Dowty announced plans to create a design office in Seattle, America, as part of an effort to work closely with Boeing on both its civil and military programmes. That same year, it was announced that a new manufacturing facility would be established in Singapore as a joint venture between Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing and Messier-Dowty. In June 2001, Messier-Dowty was awarded a $2.9 million contract for research into the field of low-noise landing gear; this deal was a part of the SILENCE(R) initiative, a four-year European effort launched to improve the environmental qualities of commercial aircraft. During 2002, the company opened the world's largest landing gear test centre in Gloucester, England. In February 2004, Messier-Dowty officially opened its new Chinese production facility in the city of Suzhou; it was the first Chinese operation to be wholly owned by a SNECMA company. Around this period, the company won several key bids; in February, it secured a deal to provide the main landing gear for the Airbus A400M; in March, it was appointed to supply both the main and nose gear of the Boeing 787, as well as the integrated landing gear of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in October 2003. In 2010, Messier-Dowty became the first company in the world to incorporate composite braces onto the main landing gear of a commercial aircraft, this being the Boeing 787. The 2005 merger of SAGEM and SNECMA made Messier-Dowty part of the new Safran company. During December 2007, Airbus announced that Messier-Dowty had been confirmed as the supplier for the main landing gear of the upcoming Airbus A350 XWB; under this arrangement, it was responsible for the design, development, qualification testing, manufacturing and in-service support of the main gear. In the following year, the firm invested around C$2 million in the introduction of robotic surface finishing of its landing gear outer fittings at its plant in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada. In March 2010, Messier-Dowty opened a new undercarriage components factory in Querétaro, Mexico. The facility was part of a larger deal between Safran and the local Mexican government; expansion into the production of increasingly advanced components was seen at the time as being highly likely. In May 2011, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty was formed through the merger of three Safran subsidiaries: Messier-Dowty, Messier-Bugatti and Messier