The origins of the company dates back to the formation of a 50/50 joint venture between the France-based
Messier and the United Kingdom-based
Dowty Group, then owned by
TI Group, in 1995. That same year, the company announced its intentions to develop a universal landing gear platform that would be shared between multiple
airliners; the aim of such commonality was a 20-40% reduction in the cost of the landing gear to manufacturers and end customers. According to Tony Edwards, the chief executive and chairman of the merged entity, while acknowledging the new entity had been experiencing some difficulties due to a lack of preparation, he regarded it as being: "a successful example of European integration that works". During early 1998, Messier-Dowty was purchased outright from TI Group by the
SNECMA group. During 1998, the company decided to invest $30 million in the creation of a new US subsidiary, known as
A-Carb, to produce
carbon brakes for both
Airbus and
Boeing airliners. During late 1998, Messier-Dowty announced that, to support future product development 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 Services. During 2014, the firm became the sole owner of French joint-venture maintenance company
Hydrep after acquiring the other 50% share formerly held by
Sabena Technics. In May 2016, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty became
Safran Landing Systems. ==Operations==