Gov. Ron DeSantis was among the dignitaries who gathered Sept. 18 for a ribbon cutting celebrating the grand opening of Leonardo USA’s 73,000- square-foot support center at Santa Rosa County’s Whiting Field Aviation Park.
The center’s primary function will be to service and maintain the helicopter fleet of its next door neighbor, Naval Air Station Whiting Field.
The opening was toasted as a unique collaboration between private business, government interests and the military.
“Today marks more than the unveiling of a new facility, this is a statement of our commitment to innovation, to operational excellence and to our customers,” Clyde Woltman, the CEO of Leonardo USA, said. “This facility reflects the vision, collaboration and the kind of teamwork that defines the very best of Leonardo and our customers.”
Leonardo’s Florida Support Center will, in the near future, be connected to Whiting Field via a taxiway, which is something that’s never been done before.
Through a first of its kind limited access use agreement between Santa Rosa County and the U.S. Navy, Whiting Aviation Park will be able to allow Leonardo and future park tenants to access Whiting Field’s 6,000-foot runway and air traffic control.
Woltman said that at the end of this month two new Leonardo-manufactured TH-73 “Alpha Thrasher” military helicopters will join the 128 already based at Whiting Field and fulfill a 130-aircraft contract the company had entered into with the Navy in 2020, just ahead of announcing plans to locate its support center in Santa Rosa County.
When Woltman last welcomed a big crowd to the Leonardo facility last November, there were 21 employees working either on site or at an off campus site. Since signing off on a certificate of occupancy in mid-July, though, the work force has been expanding to what he said will one day be a team of about 150.
“From here we grow,” he said.
The work being done at the support center is more than what Navy crews can accomplish on the base flight line. It’s replacing transmissions or gear boxes, or repairing damage from an occasional hard landing. Woltman calls the role of the support center “service, repair and overhaul.”
The support center will focus primarily on military air craft, but Woltman said it will also work on the approximately 1,000 Lenardo helicopters operating across the Gulf Coast region and as far south as Central and South America.
DeSantis said he has developed a bond with Woltman and Leonardo since the company committed to moving to Florida.
“We have built a really good relationship with Leonardo because we understand the opportunities we have, particularly in Northwest Florida,” he told the 200-plus in attendance Thursday. “You have the best military community across these bases (NAS Pensacola, Whiting Field, Hurlburt Field, Eglin Air Force Base) with active duty and the veterans who stay here of any place in the United States of America. That provides opportunities to really advance the ball in industries like the defense sector.”
The governor lauded the state’s efforts to assist the military, Leonardo and Santa Rosa County in making the service center a reality.
“We were happy a couple years ago to have done a $4.2 million grant to Santa Rosa County through our job growth grant fund that supported the connection of Naval Air Station Whiting Field to Whiting Aviation Park. That’s been a big positive and we’re happy to have done it.”
The funds were earmarked for construction of a helipad and extension of the taxiway. Woltman said the taxiway is probably still a year away from completion.
DeSantis also applauded the state’s ability to come through with $500,000 for Santa Rosa County via its defense industrial grant program for the Aviation Park. That is to go toward building a double entry gate system that connects the industrial park to NAS Whiting Field.
“We’re proud to do that. We believe in infrastructure,” DeSantis said.
This year, though, the governor vetoed an approved legislative appropriation of $850,000 for an extension of the taxiway at Whiting Aviation Industrial Park.
The grant was among at least $8.2 million in Escambia and Santa Rosa County projects vetoed by the governor. Most of the vetoed items, about $7 million worth, were sponsored by Pensacola Rep. Alex Andrade. Andrade and the governor had a falling out over Andrade investigating Hope Florida, run by DeSantis’ wife, for potential fraud.
Santa Rosa County Commissioner Colten Wright said that county leaders had been told the governor had decided to veto the taxiway funding until he saw evidence progress was being made at the Leonardo support center site. The governor, who did not take questions from the media at the grand opening, was given a tour of the now functioning facility.
Space Florida CEO Robert Long also addressed the crowd Thursday before the ceremonial ribbon cutting. He said the support of the state allows Space Florida to “develop a nation leading aerospace industry.”
Under a county partnership agreement with Space Florida, the agency leases 15 acres inside the aviation park, which it in turn leases to Leonardo.
Long called Northwest Florida “the hotbed of military aviation,” adding that the grand opening at Leonardo portends great things to come.
“We celebrate a milestone and look to a future that’s not only about what we’ve done together but a view to that future,” he said.
Wright also spoke. He said Leonardo’s committment to Santa Rosa’s military member work force and the high wages the company pays its employees will be beneficial economically for the region.
The Haas Center at the University of West Florida has estimated that between 2023 and 2027, Leonardo’s Florida Support Center will have a $62.9 million annual impact on the local economy and provide $34 million in tax revenue to Santa Rosa County.
“Leonardo is committed to our military and we are committed to Leonardo,” he said. “Hang on folks, it’s going to be a great ride and we’re just taking off.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: ‘It’s going to be a great ride’: Leonardo opens doors in Santa Rosa County
Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
