Elmendorf Air Force Base

Elmendorf Air Force Base, adjacent to the city of Anchorage, is the largest Air Force installation in Alaska and home of the Headquarters, Alaskan Command (ALCOM), Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR), 11th Air Force (11 AF) and the 3rd Wing (3 WG).

The mission at Elmendorf is to support and defend U.S. interests in the Pacific and around the world by providing units capable of worldwide air power projection and meeting Pacific command’s theater staging and throughput requirements. The military importance of Alaska can be seen when visualizing its great “Over-the-Pole” circle routes connecting the Orient with Europe and North America, which makes it an ideal major hub for aircraft using polar or near-polar routes. Elmendorf’s location is much closer to the Orient and Europe than many in the contiguous United States and provides an ideal staging location for a rapid military response capability. Alaska offers a unique environment for military training, with more than 1.5 million acres of maneuver area, airspace ranges that are among the largest in the world and four deep-water ports. Alaska provides first-class training in America’s last frontier.
--http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/