One of the area’s leading aerospace developers commemorated a 200th milestone with a reception Thursday morning.
American Eurocopter, a division of EADS North America, celebrated the delivery of its 200th Lakota helicopter to the U.S. Army. Gov. Phil Bryant was in Columbus to congratulate the company.
“I am here to say thank you for all of the people of Mississippi,” Bryant said. “We are here to celebrate (President Chief Executive Officer) Marc (Paganini) and (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer EADS North America) Sean (O’Keefe) for taking a chance on Columbus and we are here to celebrate the delivery of their 200th Lakota helicopter.”
The $4 million aircraft is part of 346 UH-72A Lakotas to be delivered to the Army and Army National Guard through 2016, along with the five already delivered to the U.S. Navy, American Eurocopter officials said. It takes 60 production days to complete one Lakota. The 100th one was completed in March 2010.
Bryant praised the company for its commitment to the nation’s safety and its veterans.
“Fifty-three percent of (American Eurocopter’s) employees are from the U.S. military,” Brant said before asking the veterans to stand. “There are man heroes here today. The men and women of the United States depend on these helicopters. It such an honor to see these men and women here in uniform today. It is so hard for us to find the right words to say thank you.”
Field of Dreams
American Eurocopter officials and employees weren’t the only ones celebrating the milestone. When the counties of Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha, along with the cities of Columbus, West Point and Starkville, joined forces more than 40 years ago to purchase thousands of acres of land adjacent to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport, industrial development was their goal. Today, the area once known as Lowndes Industrial Park has been renamed the Golden Triangle Regional Aerospace Industrial Park. Tenants in the 3,500-plus acres include Paccar, producers of commercial truck engines; Severstal steel mill; and Aurora Flight Sciences and Stark Aerospace, both of which produce unmanned aerial vehicles. Calisolar, a manufacturer of silicon chips, announced it will start construction in the park in May.
But many said it was the procurement of American Eurocopter that started it all.
“I don’t think anyone in this area could have imagined 10 years ago where we would be today,” Sen. Terry Brown said. “We became identified as the Golden Triangle Area and we finally started acting like a united Golden Triangle with everyone pulling one way. You had EMCC with workforce training, Mississippi State and MUW — it was the perfect storm that came together, including the hard work of the boards of supervisors.”
Brown said the mega-site would not have happened if it weren’t for the vision of Columbus-Lowndes Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins.
“This happened by what I like to call the ‘alphabet soup’ approach — every government entity in the Golden Triangle threw their money in and we got what funding was available from the state and on a federal level — it was everything but the kitchen sink,” Higgins said. “When we broke ground on the Eurocopter site in 2003 — I will never forget that day.”
Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders said the economic impact the plant has had on Lowndes County has been “tremendous.”
“I was on the board when this first happened,” he said. “The (site) doubled in size then tripled in size and it has helped to put Lowndes County on the map, especially when it comes to doing international business. Our goal was to have an hi-tech industrial park and it began with Eurocopter.”
American Eurocopter has more than 300 employees today, a significant increase from the initial 60 workers on the assembly line.
With the delivery of its 200th Lakota, Higgins said it was a great day for American Eurocopter and Lowndes County.
“Everything that has happened out here has been because of Eurocopter,” Higgins said. “200 helicopters of that magnitude that are made here — they aren’t coming out of a box — we actually make them here — for something like that to happen in the Golden Triangle, that’s big stuff.”
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