Military warfare for future generations took a giant step forward in north Suffolk Thursday.

More than 100 military leaders and local government officials turned out for the formal opening of United States Joint Forces Command’s cutting-edge facility, the Joint Futures Laboratory. The military touts its new 44,000-square-foot laboratory as one of the world’s most dynamic venues for wargames, simulations and experiments.

&uot;No where in the nation is there such a group of dedicated facilities under one command,&uot; said Admiral Edmond Giambastiani Jr., NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) and commander of the USJFCOM.

The JFL has groundbreaking capabilities, including a classified workstation that operates without physical hard drives and unclassified workstations that run on a wireless network. The facility is just the second Department of Defense location with those capabilities, he said.

The new laboratory will allow USJFCOM to continue moving forward on its mission to make a leaner, more efficient military by coordinating efforts with all branches of the military.

&uot;These are not just newer, faster computers,&uot; said Giambastiani. &uot;It (JFL) will allow us to develop new synergies in ways we could never do before.

Users will be &uot;turning the art of possibilities into capabilities…for the joint operations of today and the future,&uot; he said.

&uot;It will serve as an incubator of ideas and forum for creative tension.

&uot;Until now, we have lacked a rigorous forum where the best ideas can win on their own merits.&uot;

Teams working in JFL will use wargames and simulations to project the most effective ways the country and its allies can work in the world.

&uot;We have the ability to replicate the future based on what

we believe the future may be like,&uot; said Maj. Gen. John Wood, director of joint experimentation.

The JFL is the third new facility opened at USJFCOM’s in Harbour View in the past four years. With 11,000 square feet of space, USJFCOM has expanded to three times its original size.

allison.williams@suffolknewsherald.com