
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 21, 1994                   TAG: 9402210082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

SUFFOLK NAVAL BASE MAY GET NEW TENANT

The Navy is considering turning a Suffolk facility slated for closure into a joint military training and simulation center, The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger-Star newspaper reported Sunday.

The Navy ordered the $27 million complex constructed in 1991 for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a submarine support facility, saying it would consolidate related commands and move 500 people there to save money.

However, the Navy reversed course last year and told the Base Closure and Realignment Commission it would move the center to Newport, R.I., for cost-saving reasons. The move is scheduled to be completed sometime next year.

Now the U.S. Atlantic Command, headquartered in Norfolk, is looking at using at least part of the Suffolk facility as a high tech computer center that would allow it to demonstrate mock war battles from throughout the world, Navy and local sources told the Norfolk newspaper.

The command is responsible for training and sending into battle all Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps units from the continental United States.

The Navy declined to comment on the prospect of moving into the building, but officials said it may be one of several options as the so-called USACOM expands and looks for additional space.

But a Suffolk developer told the newspaper that Adm. Paul Miller, commander in chief of USACOM, visited the site earlier this year and he described Miller's reaction to the 280,000-square-foot structure as "great" for such a use and "just what we need."

The Navy has contracted with a civilian consulting company to study the proposal, the newspaper reported.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is already building a Joint Warfighting Simulation Center at Fort Monroe in Hampton, using $6.5 million this year in start-up funds.

One advantage of the Fort Monroe location, the Army has said, is that it puts the center close to many of the military's most important commands - USACOM, plus the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe and the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base.

But there also is concern that the 1995 Base Closure and Realignment Commission will once again target Fort Monroe for closing.

by CNB