Rick Scott and local leaders celebrate Leonardo Helicopters groundbreaking: ‘Historic moment’
MILTON, Fla. (FLV) – Santa Rosa County officials and statewide leaders celebrated the groundbreaking of Leonardo’s new customer support center at Whiting Aviation Park Friday.
“Welcome, Leonardo Helicopters,” U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., exclaimed over social media. “Santa Rosa County has done an incredible job supporting the Naval Air Station Whiting Field and welcoming our military members. This groundbreaking is a great next step.”
The investment site will feature a helicopter support center that is adjacent to Naval Air Station Whiting Field.
The center will be 113,00 square feet and will include four large hanger bays, major component repair and overhaul, transmission work, a full-sized paint booth along with all the associated tooling and equipment needed.
“We would like to thank Leonardo for investing into Santa Rosa County and bringing jobs to our area,” County Commissioner James Calkins said in an interview with Florida’s Voice.
“We’re excited and it’s going to be a great thing for District 3,” Calkins said, as he added the fact that the project is going to be constructed in his district.
County Commissioner Colton Wright stated that the investment was a “historic moment” for the U.S. Navy and Santa Rosa County.
“This project is the culmination of more than two decades of work and cooperation to support the mission of NAS Whiting Field and the men and women training to be the pilots of tomorrow,” he said.
“I’m so thankful to Leonardo for their commitment and making the investment in Santa Rosa County to build a facility to perform maintenance and overhaul on the TH-73 helicopter,” he continued.
“We value Leonardo’s team and their partnership in producing the best pilots in the world…right here in our backyard.”
The chief executive officer of Leonardo Helicopters, Clyde Woltman, said that he was “thrilled” to be building the support center.
“With this modern and highly efficient facility, Leonardo Helicopters will be able to bring its industry-leading product support services even closer to our customers,” he said.
“We would not be here today without the constant partnership and support of the state of Florida, Space Florida, Santa Rosa County, Triumph Gulf Coast and the United States Navy,” he added.
