Pensacola has long been known as the “cradle of naval aviation,” but a staggering number of cyberwarfare personnel also get their start at NAS Pensacola.
During the annual State of the Military event hosted by the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, commanding officer of NAS Pensacola Capt. Chandra Newman explained just how how important NAS Pensacola’s Information Warfare Training Command Corry Station is to the country’s military.
“NAS Pensacola does everything in sensing and sense-making in the electromagnetic spectrum, cyber, cyberspace and cryptology for the entire United States Navy,” Newman said during the May 7 event. “We also train the Air Force, Army, Space Force and Coast Guard in that warfare area as well. And we do everything on the kinetic end of aviation from flying and maintaining, to doctors that support us and the pilots, and for unmanned platforms for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. We also train 100% of the Air Force’s weapons systems operators.”
While NAS Pensacola and Corry Station are tasked with pumping out much of the military’s next generation of warfighters in the aviation and cryptology space, the facilities they have at their disposal pale in comparison to the job they’re asked to do and are a result of decades of being “underfunded,” Newman said.
Corry Station’s school house facilities are meant to educate roughly 1,700 students, but, as of 2026, Corry Station is producing roughly 3,300 students, according to Newman.
“I have over 700 students getting bused daily from Pensacola main-side to Corry Station just to go to class to study in classified vaults, to work on the most exquisite things in the environments they’re going to need to, in the electromagnetic spectrum, kill the bad guys and save the good guys,” Newman said. “When we surge coming out of high school graduations, I go up to 1,300-plus being bused daily from NAS Pensacola (to Corry Station).”
Relief could be on the way, however.
The U.S. Navy plans to partner with the Jacksonville-based real estate company Rise, which is known for building top-notch dormitories for top universities such as LSU, to build new barracks for cyberwarfare students on Corry Station.
The partnership with Rise, aside from allowing NAS Pensacola to maneuver around bureaucratic red tape, will provide a permanent solution for the installation’s students at a fraction of the cost.
“We’re not talking about sticks and a box and cheap costs,” Newman said. “We’re talking about people who actually know what quality of service and quality of life is for their student population.”
If the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passes on Oct. 1, Newman said Rise will be able to “put a shovel in the ground” within five days and provide roughly 500 beds within 18 months and up to 2,000 beds within 24 months, illustrating the power of public-private partnerships between local companies and the U.S. military.
According to the NDAA, NAS Pensacola would be authorized for $164 million for a “A” school dormitory. “A” school is the next stop after boot camp, where newly enlisted personnel learn a specific skill or a military operational specialty.
Nearby NAS Whiting Field has shown how powerful public-private partnerships can increase productivity and cut costs for the military while providing jobs and cash flow to civilians and communities, through the Whiting Aviation Park that was built off Whiting Field’s south runway.
The primary function of Leonardo USA’s 73,000-square-foot Support Center at Santa Rosa County’s Whiting Field Aviation Park is to service and maintain the helicopter fleet of Naval Air Station Whiting Field. The Support Center will be connected to Whiting Field via a taxiway.
Through a first of its kind limited access use agreement between Santa Rosa County and the U.S. Navy, Whiting Aviation Park will be able to allow Leonardo and future park tenants to access Whiting Field’s 6,000-foot runway and air traffic control.
NAS Whiting Field’s commanding officer Capt. Ted Elkins said that the aviation park created aviation jobs for the county and substantially decreased the maintenance time helicopters spend in hangars rather than being used to train warfighters.
“In the immediate, they are out at the supply center,” Elkins said, “so instead of waiting to get a part from Philadelphia, oftentimes the parts that are needed down here on our airfield are right here right outside these gates.”
Although Rise and NAS Pensacola have found a way to improve the installation’s cyberwarfare school, the “cradle of naval aviation” is still attempting to address problems to its infrastructure and aging hangars—all of which require a substantial amount of money.
Back in January, Newman provided a tour of NAS Pensacola to Rep. Jimmy Patronis and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao to demonstrate the structural needs of the base. Cao told the News Journal just before the tour that funding infrastructure is vital because “if you take away ships and aircraft and submarines, it all comes down to Sailors and Marines.”
Patronis, likewise, expressed his desire to appropriate as much money as possible to NAS Pensacola to ensure it can continue its mission of continual creation of naval warfighters.
“To continue to train the best and brightest, (NAS Pensacola) has to have great facilities to work with,” Patronis said. “So, we’re doing our part through the appropriations process to focus on this as we do our work in Congress.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Corry Station in line for $164M school dormitory project
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
