Fort Liberty to launch facility for innovation in IT, national defense

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Civilians and military officials will have a new space at Fort Liberty that's expected to foster career opportunities in defense and IT.

The new facility is being touted as an innovation outpost. It's meant to offer a centralized location for servicemembers and academics to come together to create defense strategies, pull data and create breakthroughs in information technology.

Those academics that will soon be invited will include researchers from schools in the area including Fayetteville Tech, Fayetteville State and Duke. Thursday, service members and people from the community were given a tour of the facility after a brief ceremony. The project has been in the works for a while; it was first put into action by the 18th Airborne's last commanding general: General Michael Kurilla.

"This was one of the things that we had to see through because of the importance of this for our military force, but also for the local community," LTG Christopher Donahue/CG, XVIII Airborne Corps.

The facility is being named after LTG James Gavin, one of the Department of Defense's forefathers in scientific research and innovations in rockets and missile programs.

Fort Liberty reports the space spans about 30,000 square feet and has cost around $28 million to revitalize. Donahue said he hopes the opportunities here will encourage more people in the Sandhills to work for the Department of Defense.

"You'll be able to write algorithms, you'll be able to use data for anything that you want to use. This will be the place where we integrate every weapon system and every other system that we use," Donahue said.

Gavin's daughters shared how they felt about his legacy being immortalized through the facility:

"Very proud," said Marjorie Gavin.

"I think it's great to be able to integrate all the technical companies and their capabilities with the needs of the Army," said Chloe Gavin-Beatty, "because the army is going to is digital now in a way it never was before."