Top U.S. commanders in the Pacific opened a $48 million high-tech facility they plan to use for exercises, training and battle simulations.

The Pacific Warfighting Center also might be used to direct forces during disaster relief efforts and war, if needed.

Navy Adm. Robert Willard, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said last week that the center has already helped relief efforts in Haiti.

Typically staffed with about 56 people, the facility is capable of holding hundreds more as the need arises.

In a few months, the center will host about 500 people for what he called a “;large-scale command post exercise”; involving forces in Hawaii and the Western Pacific region.

“;We can take a command post or a field training exercise to a very, very high level as a consequence of what this facility provides,”; Willard said after a dedication ceremony for the center.

The military spent $25.8 million for construction and $22 million on telecommunications infrastructure for the building on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, noted the military is already able to direct forces from the Pacific Command's headquarters at Camp H.M. Smith, but there is not enough room there for training. The warfighting center also has room for the military to run exercises with allies such as Japan and South Korea, the senator said.

Willard acknowledged Inouye's role in arranging funding for the center by introducing him at the ceremony as the “;one man”; who enabled the center to be built.

Inouye is chairman of both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the defense appropriations subcommittee.