VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — After a flyover and remarks, the ribbon was cut Tuesday for the John “Bag” Hefti Global LVC Operations Center at Naval Air Station Oceana.
LVC stands for Live, Virtual, Constructive training.
“Ladies and gentleman, LVC is game-changing," U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle said as he spoke to the crowd gathered for the event.
The building will help the Navy train and fight, serving as a operations center for simulating training scenarios with ships and planes around the world.
"These LVC operators can make these simulated ships, aircraft, and weapons perform indistiguishably from the real thing for sailors at sea, at port, or on any watch floor," Caudle explained. "They simply appear on their consoles like any other enemy or friendly unit."
The building is named after a Navy veteran who died in a car crash in Hampton Roads in 2021.
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Hefti was a big supporter of LVC training.
“It’s spectacular," Hefti's widow, Tricia, said of the building.
News 3 spoke with her at the ribbon cutting.
“We are overwhelmed with pride," Tricia said. "We are thrilled that the Navy has chosen to have such an extraordinary building that’s going to prepare our men and women named under John’s legacy, to preserve John’s legacy."
LVC training itself is not new, but having a building dedicated to it is.
Caudle said the actions by the Navy in response to the ongoing fighting in the Middle East is an example of why it’s important.
“LVC and our rigorous pre-deployment training gave them that confidence and proficiency to adapt to this dynamic threat," said Caudle. “Modern warfare’s intensity, complexity, and pace of change cannot be adequately replicated in a pure live or synthetic environment for a multitude of reasons. It’s expensive, it’s an enormous drain on sailors, resources, and material readiness. Even more important, ‘white carding’ our training events is not a winning strategy against our peer competitors. We must and can do better. LVC enables this objective."
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Virginia Congresswoman Jen Kiggans also spoke at the event and praised the building.
“To be here today to see just the technology that’s gone into this training facility, to know what that will do for our sailors and for our fleet and for our allies across the world, it’s truly going to be a very special place,” Rep. Kiggans said.
Kiggans also touched on the importance of the center amid the ongoing fighting in the Middle East.
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She said in a recent trip to the region people expressed appreciation for the Navy's response to the fighting.
"Those Israeli people truly believe, and were extremely sincere in telling me, that because we had sent our quick response with our aircraft carriers that Hezbollah did not invade Israel from the north," said Kiggans. "We sent our mighty aircraft carriers with you all on them that had been trained at facilities like this."
The center is expected to be fully operational later this year.
