U.S. Army To Consider Warfare Training Center In W.Va. 

During a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill this week, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., he would review the possibility of a warfare training center in southern West Virginia.  

The subcommittee is considering President Trump’s FY 2027 budget request for the Army – including priorities for rapidly developing and fielding new war fighting technology. Driscoll said current training facilities are dated and focused on desert environments.  

“That’s why I supported the funding for the East Coast Warfare Center,” Capito said. “It is in former industrial sites in southern West Virginia, to create a more agile, low overhead cost, government and industry accessible test bed in challenging terrain in our southern part of our state.” 

During the hearing, Capito asked Driscoll if the Army would review how the East Coast Warfare Center would “complement” his Combat Training Center reform, to which he replied, yes.  

Capito further asked him to describe how such a center could help fill current training gaps. Driscoll said the current training sites are “inadequate for the risk and the threat,” and that creating a variety of training centers to address electronic warfare is crucial for the country.  

“And so, what you’re describing as part of a constellation of new solutions would be, I think, from my understanding, pretty impactful,” Driscoll said.  

He also told members of the subcommittee that iPhones and publicly available drones should not be more effective than the equipment service members are given for military grade operations.