SAGEM
A seven-man Paris tool shop grew into the firm that guided France’s nuclear missiles, built its army’s spy drones and sold half the country’s mobile phones, before merging with Snecma to create Safran.
SAGEM: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Seven men and a tyre maker
In 1925 a 26-year-old Paris businessman, Marcel Môme, founded SAGEM with seven employees and 250,000 francs of capital. It made electrical components, tools and cameras, and one of its first big customers was the tyre company Michelin. By the 1930s it had passed 2,000 staff. In 1942, at the request of the French telecoms ministry, it produced its first telex printer, and after the war it moved steadily into defence and aeronautics. Môme ran the company until 1962.
Inertial navigation and the bomb
SAGEM’s defining contract came in 1961, when it was chosen to supply the inertial navigation systems for France’s first ballistic missiles and the navigation and optical systems for its first missile submarines. Inertial navigation, telex machines and later thermal cameras and missile seekers, such as the Mistral seeker in series production from 1988, carried it through the Cold War. In 1999 it bought SFIM, the measuring-instrument and avionics maker, and from 2000 it built guidance kits for the French AASM air-to-ground weapon.
Faxes, phones and the Sperwer
Under Pierre Faurre, who took over after a 1985 management buy-out, SAGEM became a high-tech conglomerate. It made fax machines, Canal+ decoders and, from 1995, GSM phones, at one point holding about half the French market. In the air it developed tactical drones, notably the Sperwer, which served with the French, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Canadian forces, the Canadians flying it in Afghanistan until 2009. In 2005 SAGEM merged with the engine maker Snecma to form Safran; its phone and communications businesses were spun off.
SAGEM in numbers
Het bedrijf
- Kortom
- Opgericht in 1925
- Founded in Paris by Marcel Môme with seven employees
- Defence electronics, navigation, telecoms and consumer electronics
- Management buy-out under Pierre Faurre from 1985
- Merged with Snecma to form Safran in 2005
Productie
- Het meest bekend om
- Sperwer UAV
- Sperwer tactical reconnaissance drone
- Crecerelle drone for the French Army
- Patroller MALE drone, first flown in 2009 and continued by Safran
- Inertial navigation for French ballistic missiles and submarines
Vandaag
- Nu
- Part of Safran
- Defence work continues as Safran Electronics & Defense
- Phone business spun off as Sagemcom and MobiWire
De cijfers
- Employees at founding
- 71925
- Medewerkers
- 8,4001970
- Verkoop
- more than FFr 10 billion1990
- Share of French GSM phone market
- about 50 per cent (peak)
Every notable SAGEM aircraft
Photos: Andre Gerwing / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
| Vliegtuig | Rol | Eerste vlucht | Gebouwd | Status | Opmerking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAGEM Crecerelle | Tactical reconnaissance UAV | Gepensioneerd | |||
| SAGEM Sperwer | Tactical reconnaissance UAV | In dienst | Used by France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece and Canada; Canadian use in Afghanistan 2003–2009 | ||
| SAGEM Patroller | MALE reconnaissance UAV | 2009 | In productie | Based on the Stemme S15 motor glider; continued by Safran |
SAGEM aircraft in the world’s air forces
1 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew SAGEM types. Geen van hen heeft er nog een in gebruik.
| Luchtmacht | In dienst | Voorheen gevlogen |
|---|---|---|
| Koninklijke Canadese Luchtmacht | SAGEM CU-161 Sperwer |
Where SAGEM built, who led it, what it achieved
Fabrieken
- Argenteuil · Argenteuil, Val-d’Oise — Pre-war works; part of the staff moved to Montluçon during the war
- Montluçon · Montluçon, Allier
Mensen
- Marcel Môme · founder, head of the company 1925–1962
- Robert Labarre · second president, to 1987
- Pierre Faurre · chief executive after the 1985 buy-out
Records en primeurs
- Selected in 1961 for the inertial navigation of France’s first ballistic missiles
SAGEM, year by year
SAGEM founded in Paris by Marcel Môme
Takes control of the telecoms firm SAT
First telex printer
Chosen for inertial navigation of France’s first ballistic missiles
Death of Marcel Môme; Robert Labarre succeeds
Management buy-out; Pierre Faurre takes control
Series production of the Mistral missile seeker
First GSM phone
Acquires SFIM
Merger with Snecma creates Safran
Patroller drone first flight in Finland
Before and after SAGEM
Everything people ask about SAGEM
What did SAGEM stand for?
What happened to SAGEM?
What drones did SAGEM make?
Did SAGEM make mobile phones?
Around SAGEM
Alle feiten gecontroleerd
- SAGEM (Wikipedia)
- Sagem (French Wikipedia)
- SAGEM Sperwer (Wikipedia)
- Safran Patroller (Wikipedia)
- Safran (Wikipedia)
Geverifieerd op 3 oktober 2026.