Work will start this summer on a Pentagon “mega-project” in Alaska intended to boost the Air Force’s training capability to defend North America.

The 150,000-square-foot Joint Integrated Test and Training Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage will contain 426 computer servers kept running by a 15 million megavolt-ampere electric substation. The project is slated to be completed in 2029 at a cost of up to $500 million.

John Budnik, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the center will allow trainers to sync personnel on the ground with pilots in the air.

“It’s the only place in the Indo-Pacific Command that can host multi-domain simulators for joint and coalition fighters, including F-35s, F-22s, F-15s, F-18s, next-generation fighters, bombers, command and control platforms, intelligence surveillance, reconnaissance aircraft, and long-range weapons fire,” he said.

Thareth Casey, the program manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the training center is being designed so simulations can be adapted to include weapons and aircraft from other U.S. military branches, as well as NATO allies Canada, Finland, Sweden and others.

Air Force Col. Lisa Mabbutt, commander of the 673d Air Base Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said the training center’s location underlines the importance of Alaska and the Arctic to the U.S.

“It demonstrates a commitment to Alaska as both a key power-projection platform and one of our nation’s leading edges of homeland defense,” Mabbutt said.

While the long, warmer days of summer have allowed military and commercial ships to take advantage of new sea lanes, the training center has to be built to withstand the seasonal flipside: winter, with its minus-20 temperatures and days where sunset comes a little over five hours after sunrise.

Casey, the project manager, said construction has its challenges.

To keep the elements outside from impacting the work inside, the center will be built with a reinforced concrete foundation, steel-frame-insulated wall panels covered in masonry, and a steel-reinforced metal roof.

Construction will accelerate during the long, warmer summer days when the sun can be out for 20 hours. It will slow down during the cold, dark winters.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind project,” Casey said. “We’re constrained by the seasons but with planning, we expect to complete work by the fall of 2029.”

Despite a steady stream of reports about Russian and Chinese joint sea and air operations in the region, the U.S. commands that will be the primary users of the training center declined to specify which nations the training will focus on as possible aggressors.

A query to the 11th Air Force in Alaska was passed to Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon, which passed it to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii — which then passed it back to the 11th Air Force.

But political and military officials have made it clear in earlier statements that the focus will be on training to react to potential threats from Russia and China.

Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top officers such as Air Force Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, head of Strategic Command, helped popularize the term “near-peer adversary,” a nation with a large military force approaching — it not reaching — equivalence with the United States. The term was most frequently shorthand for Russia. Cotton said in 2023 that Russia, which has about 5,900 nuclear warheads, was a “near peer adversary.”

The other term often used is “pacing challenge” — a country that is building up its military at a rapid rate. A 2023 Pentagon statement said the planned training center at Elmendorf-Richardson would allow “our warfighters to train against our pacing challenge in realistic threat scenarios.”

“China is the only country that can pose a systemic challenge to the United States in the sense of challenging us, economically, technologically, politically and militarily,” Colin Kahl, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy, said in 2023.

Kahl said being a pacing challenge didn’t mean the U.S. had to go to war with China.

“It does mean that we will have a more competitive and, at times, … adversarial relationship with Beijing,” he said.

Russia’s northern border is adjacent to the Arctic Ocean. From czars to Stalin to Putin, it has operated in the region for centuries.

China is a relative newcomer. Though 900 miles from the Arctic Circle, China in 2018 officially declared itself an “near-Arctic state” intent on becoming a “great polar power” by 2030.

In October 2024, a U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J long-range surveillance plane spotted Russian and Chinese ships operating together near the Bering Strait, the sea passage between Alaska and Russia that is just 55 miles wide at its closest point. Last year, American and Canadian fighters were scrambled to intercept Russian and Chinese long-range reconnaissance aircraft flying near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), a U.S.-designated 150-mile buffer zone from U.S. territory.

Katherine Dahlstrand, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said Russia and China see the same military and commercial opportunities as the United States and its allies.

“The Arctic is a new transit space for military assets,” Dahlstrand said. “The potential for shorter trade routes around the world using northern passages would be revolutionary for many countries,” she said. “It draws a lot of interest. The area also has energy resources, fishing, and mining.”

Dahlstrand said putting the training center in Alaska and practicing scenarios for defending the region is an investment that will pay off in the future.

“The Arctic spans the globe and is a connector of regions — European, Indo-Pacific, and North America,” Dahlstrand said. “For the United States, it’s also homeland security.”

Assembled from 16 years of footage, Matty Hannon’s feature debut embraces the possibility of the open road with full-hearted passion. His diaristic film documents his travels with the centrepiece being an astonishing journey from Alaska to Patagonia – first on motorbike, then on horse. Hannon’s zest for adventure first began as an undergraduate in ecology, when an encounter with a book on shamans in Indonesia urged him to move beyond the ivory tower of academia. He soon found himself in the Mentawai islands, living among the Salakirrat clan for five years; here, the Indigenous tribe see their surrounding environment as a living entity with inner spirits and souls.

As Hannon embarked on his years-long trip through the Americas, he brought this same sense of attention to the landscape, as it shifts from snow-capped mountain ranges to arid desert roads and stunning ocean waves. The cinematography glows with golden hues that bring to mind the bohemian spirit of 1970s counterculture films, an aesthetic accentuated by Daniel Norgren’s folksy soundtrack. Driven by an awe for natural beauty, the documentary also reveals its fragility, as new development in Chile and elsewhere threatens to drain rivers and wipe out whole forests.

When it comes to synthesising his experiences into social commentary, however, Hannon’s narration betrays certain levels of naivety. In emphasising the importance of sustainability, he often reinforces superficial binary oppositions about eastern and western ways of life. In reality, issues such as consumerism, environmental extraction and rapid industrialisation have always existed on a global scale. In contrast to Hannon’s musings, interviews with local figures provide valuable insights, which rescue the film from being politically and intellectually adrift.

Depending on the State or U.S. territory where you are currently living, SNAP payments may arrive earlier or later in June. The Food Stamps program is only for Americans with a limited income and little to no resources. Once you receive approval, you can receive money on an EBT card in order to buy groceries in authorized stores, farmers markets, and retailers.

For your information, it is important to highlight that the maximum SNAP amounts are the same in the 48 contiguous States. However, they are much higher in Hawaii and Alaska due to their cost of living. Guam and the United States Virgin Islands also have higher monthly payments. When it comes to paydays, each State and territory has its own schedule and way to arrange payment dates.

SNAP Payment Schedule for June 2025

From May 24 through May 28, only the States of Florida and Texas are still delivering Food Stamps for May. The other States and territories have already delivered all the money.

• Alabama: June 4 to 23
• Alaska: June 1
• Arizona: June 1 to 13
• Arkansas: June 4 to 13
• California: June 1 to 10
• Colorado: June 1 to 10
• Connecticut: June 1 to 3
• Delaware: June 2 to 23
• Florida: June 1 to 28
• Georgia: June 5 to 23
• Hawaii: June 3 to 5
• Idaho: June 1 to 10
• Illinois: June 1 to 10
• Indiana: June 5 to 23
• Iowa: June 1 to 10
• Kansas: June 1 to 10
• Kentucky: June 1 to 19
• Louisiana: June 1 to 23
• Maine: June 10 to 14
• Maryland: June 4 to 23
• Massachusetts: June 1 to 14
• Michigan: June 3 to 21
• Minnesota: June 4 to 13
• Mississippi: June 4 to 21
• Missouri: June 1 to 22
• Montana: June 2 to 6
• Nebraska: June 1 to 5
• Nevada: June 1 to 10
• New Hampshire: June 5
• New Jersey: June 1 to 5
• New Mexico: June 1 to 20
• New York: June 1 to 9
• North Carolina: June 3 to 21
• North Dakota: June 1
• Ohio: June 2 to 20
• Oklahoma: June 1 to 10
• Oregon: June 1 to 9
• Pennsylvania: Over the 1st 10 business days in June 2025
• Rhode Island: June 1
• South Carolina: June 1 to 10
• South Dakota: June 10
• Tennessee: June 1 to 20
• Texas: June 1 to 28
• Utah: June 5, 11, and 15
• Vermont: June 1
• Virginia: June 1 to 7
• Washington: June 1 to 20
• West Virginia: June 1 to 9
• Wisconsin: June 1 to 15
• Wyoming: June 1 to 4
• Guam: June 1 to 10
• Puerto Rico: June 4 to 22
• The District of Columbia: June 1 to 10
• The U.S. Virgin Islands: June 1

Are the maximum SNAP amounts the same in May as in June 2025?

As a matter of fact, all the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will be the same through September 30, 2025. Then, there will be new amounts after the 2026 COLA.

Amounts may increase, but they may also see reductions. It depends on inflation. Here are the maximum amounts you can receive in one of the 48 contiguous States in June:

Household Size and 48 States & DC
1 member: $292
2 members: $536
3 members: $768
4 members: $975
5 members: $1,158
6 members: $1,390
7 members: $1,536
8 members: $1,756
Each additional person is $220