Safran Helicopter Engines

Safran Helicopter Engines, previously known as Turbomeca, is a French manufacturer of low- and medium-power gas turbine turboshaft engines for helicopters. The company also produces gas turbine engines for aircraft and missiles, as well as turbines for land, industrial and marine applications.

Since its founding as Turbomeca in 1938, Safran Helicopter Engines has produced over 72,000 turbines. In its early years, it benefitted greatly from a rearmament programme conducted by the French state; operations were disrupted by the occupation of France during the Second World War, but the company survived and rebuilt quickly during the immediate postwar years. Prominent successes during the Cold War include the use of its Artouste II turboshaft engine to power the new Sud Aviation Alouette II helicopter (the first production turbine-powered helicopter in the world) as well as its involvement in Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited (a joint venture with British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce Ltd that produced turbojet and turboshaft engines).

In September 2001, the French aerospace specialist SNECMA Group acquired the company, after which it was rebranded as Safran Helicopter Engines. The company states that it has more than 2,500 customers in 155 countries. Safran Helicopter Engines has 15 sites and operates on each continent, providing its customers with a proximity service through 44 distributors and certified maintenance centers, 18 Repair & Overhaul Centers, and 90 Field Representatives and Field Technicians. Safran Helicopter Engines subsidiary Safran Power Units is the leading European manufacturer of turbojet engines for missiles, drones and auxiliary power units. Safran Helicopter Engines has 6,300 employees worldwide, with 5000 based in France. In 2015, the company reportedly produced and delivered 718 new engines, and repaired around 1,700 engines.

On 29 August 1938, the company was founded as Turbomeca by the aero engine designers Joseph Szydlowski and André Planiol, following the granting of their patent application for a supercharger during the previous year. Engine manufacturer Hispano-Suiza promptly ordered a demonstrator to equip its 12 Y engine, which was used on the MS 405 C1 fighter, amongst others. The company benefitted greatly from a decision by the French Government, recognising the looming threat of another World War with neighbouring Nazi Germany, having launched a rearmament programme in 1937.

Over the course of three years, Turbomeca expanded rapidly from an artisanal production to an industrial one to meet the extensive demands of the French aircraft industry. The production figures of the company's first few years of operation indicate this rapid expansion: 18 compressors were produced in 1938, 300 in 1939 and 1,200 in 1940. The factory at Mézières-sur-Seine had only just attained fully operational status in June 1940, when the French Government advised a relocation to the south of France to avoid the German advance. That same month, Turbomeca repositioned its operations to a newly requisitioned workshop in Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre near the Hispano-Suiza engine factory in Tarbes. However, these buildings were quickly found to be too small for its needs, thus, in 1941, a site was acquired in Bordes near Pau. Turbomeca progressively transferred to this site between the autumn of 1941 and June 1942. In November 1942, Szydlowski fled to neutral Switzerland. Between October 1942 and 1944, production stalled while its workforce dropped from about 300 to about 50 personnel.

Following the liberation of the region by Allied forces in August 1944, Szydlowski returned to Bordes to help revive Turbomeca; much of the firm's former staff were re-employed and much of its machinery was recovered as well, enabling a speedy revival during the postwar era. During the late 1940s, Szydlowski opted to focus Turbomeca's design resources on low-power jet propulsion, intended for a new range of jet-powered aircraft, including turbine-powered helicopters. The production of turboshaft engines, which became widely used for rotorcraft, became a staple of the business over subsequent decades.

From 1950, Turbomeca produced the tiny centrifugal flow Palas turbojet, producing 1.6 kN (353 lbf). In addition to the company's own production, the Palas was also produced under license by Blackburn and General Aircraft in the United Kingdom and Continental in the United States. Blackburn had a licence for producing other Turbomeca designs. In 1955, Turbomeca's Artouste II turboshaft engine was adopted for the new Sud Aviation Alouette II helicopter, which became the world's first production turbine-powered helicopter one year later. Starting in 1957, the firm stated manufacture of the Bastan turboprop for the Aérospatiale N 262 airliner.

In 1968, a joint venture with British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce Ltd, named Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited, was established to develop and produce the Adour turbojet engine to power the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar. In addition to manufacturing the aero-engine, the company also provided associated support services to end users. The Adour would not only be adopted for the Jaguar, but also various other aircraft, such as the BAE Systems Hawk, the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, and Mitsubishi T-2 trainer aircraft, as well as the Mitsubishi F-1 ground attack fighter. In excess of 2,800 Adour engines would eventually be produced, reportedly amassing a cumulative total of 7,000,000 flying hours.