The Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year by bringing its biggest-yet airshow contingent to Farnborough.

The regional trade association is joined by 27 members on its stand in Hall 1 where it will be promoting the varied capabilities of the respected Midlands aerospace supply chain.

Engines and the systems that control them are the primary focus of much of the Midlands aerospace sector. The region is home to about one-quarter of the UK aerospace industry by value, and manufacturing for global aerospace markets supports more than 40,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.

The principal hub is Derby, the headquarters of Rolls-Royce, which accounts for one in four of the cluster's jobs. Radiating from Derby across the East and West Midlands are the supply chains that define the cluster's nerve system, linking the local nodes where aero-engine parts are made and where electronic and mechanical control systems are designed and built.

A second hub is located in the West Midlands around Aero Engine Controls, Goodrich Actuation Systems, Moog and Meggitt, in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry. They supply electro-mechanical control systems to manufacturers such as Airbus, BAE Systems and Boeing, and similar control systems to Rolls-Royce and engine makers across the globe.

At the base of the supply chain, via an intricate web of SMEs, are specialist aerospace materials producers.

Among its most successful initiatives are the two phases of the Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (ATEP), which between 2006 and 2012 pushed £1.5 million into projects that tapped innovation in SMEs, with end-users on board to provide commercial guidance.

Chief executive Dr Andrew Mair remembers the organisation's beginnings which included its first Farnborough show in 2004. "Creating a new body that would make a real difference – and making it self-sustaining at the same time – was never going to be simple," he says. "I think we've made good progress."

The MAA plans a reception on its stand on Tuesday, 10 July, to mark its first decade.