The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush sat pierside at Naval Station Norfolk Friday. But for the past several days, the operations team for the carrier strike group has been virtually transported to the Mediterranean Sea.
“Everything that we see on our screens, everything that we see in our displays are exactly like what we would see if we were out operating and steaming,” said Rear Adm. Alexis Walker, commander of Strike Group 10. ”All of those things happen exactly the same way we'd see as if we were in the real world environment.”
Large Scale Exercise 2025 involves Navy commands around the world to train against several global threats happening at the same time. It includes seven Navy fleets stretched over 22 time zones. Run by Fleet Forces in Norfolk, the exercise happens every two years.
When the exercise began in 2021, the Navy was still in the early days of virtual training. In 2023, Marines from Marine Air Station Cherry Point set up a refueling station in the North Carolina woods for over a week. As simulators have become more sophisticated, this year’s exercise has become increasingly virtual. The Navy wants to concentrate on training its commanders together in real time, around the world, said Vice Adm. John Gumbleton, deputy commander of Fleet Forces.
“We're seeing an uncertain future, and we recognize that, and we also recognize it'll be a global scale. Therefore, we understand that we are going to have to synergize across the globe,” he said.
This year, the exercise incorporates a new virtual training center at the Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex. The John “Bag” Hefti Global LVC Operations Center opened in 2024. It runs all of the simulated training for the Navy and increasingly for the Air Force and Marine Corps. The center can network flight simulators and the operation centers for ships throughout the world.
The Navy incorporated reserve sailors from Hampton Roads this year, to help coordinate the exercise. For the first time, international forces were also included from Japan and Canada. The North American Treaty Alliance (NATO) commanders were flown in from Europe to simulate the NATO partners the American military would work with during a crisis.
“When we want to project that force in times of crisis, it takes so much more than just starting a ship and going,” said Brigadier General Thomas M. Armas, deputy commander of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic. “There are administrative issues that have to take place. All that has to be exercised. You can't just show up and do it. Calling up reservists, getting different sailors and Marines to ships. So much goes into it and it's so complicated.”
Roughly 880 sailors are taking part in Large Scale Exercise 2025, which began July 30 and will run through August 8.
