U.S. Navy's Training Systems Division Is Adding New Space.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Brief Article

The U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division--the Navy's main simulation and modeling facility--is expanding, said its commanding officer, Capt. Donald R. Gagnon.

The division has outgrown its 13-year-old wave-shaped building, located in Orlando's 1,000-acre Central Florida Research Park, he said. He spoke to National Defense during a recent industry briefing in that same city.

The Navy unit, known by its initials, NAWCTSD, is ideally located for development of simulation technology, Gagnon said. It is within walking distance to the University of Central Florida, the National Center for Simulation and units from the other military services with an interest in simulation technology.

These include the Army's Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command, the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation and the Marine Corps Liaison Office for Trainers and Simulators.

In addition, Central Florida is home to Disney World, Universal Studios and 160 other simulation-related businesses stretching along a so-called "laser lane" from Cape Kennedy to St. Petersburg. Half of those businesses are located in the same office park as the Navy unit.

The problem, Gagnon said, is that NAWCTSD has grown over the years. It now has more than 1,000 employees.

"We needed space," Gagnon said. "So we worked a deal with the university." The Navy donated land, and the state of Florida provided funding for a new 50,000-square-foot building. In return, the NAWCTSD received 15,000 square feet in the structure. Additional buildings, using the same arrangement, are in the planning stages, Gagnon said.

Although the Navy unit can trace its roots back to World War II, it moved to Orlando from Long Island in the mid-1960s and built its current headquarters in 1988.

The division's mission, Gagnon explained, is to meet the Navy's evolving training and simulation needs. "We deal with all of the warfare areas in the Navy," he said. That includes aviation, surface ships, submarines, training and education.

Human in the Loop

"We believe that the teams that learn the fastest will win," Gagnon noted. "That is what we concentrate on--the human in the loop."

NAWCTSD is concentrating on speeding up its work, Gagnon said. "At one point, we're kind of out of control," he admitted. "But we're getting back in there." Backlogs are being reduced, he said.

"We need to be fleet driven," he reminded the briefing. "The fleet is our customer. We've got to be timely. When we say...