Military situation in Iceland

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The Icelandic flagship V / s Þór ,
October 27, 2011, Reykjavík

The military situation of Iceland is shaped by the fact that the country does not have regular armed forces . The island was under Danish rule until 1944, after independence it was decided not to set up its own armed forces. Iceland maintains individual units that are dependent on cooperation and interaction with allied forces. The accession to NATO took place in 1949 under the premise that no armed forces had to be maintained. This status was reaffirmed in 1995 when regulations on the maintenance of an army were removed from the constitution.

During the Second World War , the island was occupied by British troops in 1940, and US troops were stationed on the island from 1941. Their stationing served to secure supply convoys against German submarines. After the country joined NATO and the outbreak of the Korean War , the Iceland Defense Force was created under US command in 1951 , which included US soldiers as well as Icelandic civilians and soldiers from other NATO countries, and which was supposed to guarantee Iceland's foreign policy security . As part of the GIUK gap , a line between Greenland and the British Isles, Iceland played a prominent role in the US military strategy during the Cold War to prevent breakthroughs by Soviet units from the Arctic Ocean into the vastness of the Atlantic. Both radar stations on the island and patrols of fighter planes were used for surveillance .

In 2006 the USA unilaterally terminated the statute on which the association was based (see Agreement Between the United States and the Republic of Iceland, May 5, 1951 ). Since then, the governments of the two countries have been negotiating alternatives. In spring 2007, contracts were signed with Norway and Denmark on airspace and coastal surveillance. However, the dedicated area of ​​responsibility of the two countries must first be defined. Due to the withdrawal of US units, the Icelandic government is intensifying its cooperation with the Nordic and European countries.

Contribution to NATO

Iceland's contribution to the common defense alliance is to make clearly delimited parts of the state available free of charge for military use. The most important of these facilities was the Keflavík Naval Air Force Base until 2006 , which was mainly operated by the US armed forces , but also by those of Denmark and Norway . After 2006, the military presence of NATO partners was reduced to a minimum.

Units from all NATO member countries are sent to Keflavík in regular cycles to carry out maneuvers (see Air Policing Island ). With the withdrawal of the Lockheed P-3 surveillance aircraft , the predominant anti-submarine exercises are suspended.

In addition to the favorable transfer of certain territories, Iceland has agreed to help finance general NATO tasks. In recent years Iceland has become more involved in NATO planning and strategy. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers' Conference in Reykjavík in 1987 and takes part in the biennial Northern Viking exercise. The Icelandic capital had already hosted the summit meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev the year before . 1997 was under the Partnership for Peace for the first time the maneuver called Cooperative Safeguard (too dt. "Cooperative Security" approximately) aligned. This was the only multilateral maneuver by NATO so far in which Russian armed forces were involved.

Stationing statutes

The USA and Iceland consider the stationing of American troops , which has existed since World War II , as the foundation of bilateral foreign and defense relations. The Agreed Minute Protocol , which contains essential regulations regarding the forces stationed in Iceland, was last renewed in 2001. The US pushed due to the increasing strain on its forces across the world to renegotiate, especially since the Icelandic government only through massive resistance to the withdrawal of the remaining four F-15 C - interceptors of the US Air Force was able to prevent.

During the negotiations the Icelandic side the USA offered to take over the management of the support point Keflavík and the withdrawal of American HH-60G Pave Hawk - helicopter to compensate for the fact that the air fleet of the Icelandic Coast Guard will stationed there. For this, the hunting squadron should continue to be stationed in Keflavík. On March 15, 2006, the US government unilaterally announced the withdrawal of US forces by the end of September of that year. On September 30, 2006, the last US soldiers stationed in Iceland left the country.

Military branches

Crisis response unit

The Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs operates a small military expeditionary unit called Íslenska friðargæslan (' Crisis Response Unit '), the official English name is the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit . It is trained and equipped by the Norwegian Army and consists of qualified civilians and members of the Icelandic Police and Coast Guard. Essential missions of the unit existed z. B. in the context of peace enforcement , to operate the airports in the capitals of Afghanistan and Kosovo . The unit had also sent observers to Sri Lanka and northern Afghanistan.

Three members of the unit were injured in a suicide attack in Kabul in October 2004. As a result of the assassination, the unit's commander, Colonel Halli Sigurðsson, was exposed to severe criticism of his management style. a. was shopping in an unsafe part of town at the time of the attack. The unclear legal status of the unit was of greater importance for the domestic political debate. When national newspapers printed pictures of heavily armed members of the unit and headlined "If this is not a soldier, what is it?", The opposition accused the government of enforcing an army "through the back door". According to Davíð Oddson, then Foreign Minister, the peacekeeping forces were soldiers like those of other nations according to international law and according to the statutes of NATO. Nevertheless, the factual name hermaður ( Icelandic : 'soldier') is inappropriate due to the non-military training and equipment.

Operations by the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit

Air Control Authority

The Icelandic government operates an authority that uses radar to monitor the airspace. Íslenska Loftvarnarkerfið ( Iceland Air Defense System ) was founded in 1987 and operates four radar systems, software and supply facilities as well as a command and report center. Like Íslenska friðargæslan , this agency is accountable to the Defense Department of the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Coast guard

The Icelandic coast guard called Landhelgisgæslan has its roots in the 1920s. Since then, its task has been to protect the cod stocks in the territorial waters of the island and to help all people in distress .

The multiple expansion of Icelandic territorial waters up to 200  nautical miles up to 1975 led to several clashes with the British Royal Navy , the so-called Cod Wars . Even if only a few shots were fired in this, those involved in these disputes, especially the ship's captains, are unofficially regarded as national heroes.

Special police unit

The Sérsveit ríkislögreglustjóra ('Special Unit of the National Police Commander'), informal name Víkingasveitin (' Viking Unit'), is a special police unit for dealing with crisis situations. The unit is based on the German GSG9 and the British Special Air Service and consists of specially trained members of the police. The range of tasks includes national security , anti-terrorism operations , the security of state guests and supporting the police, insofar as the latter is necessary. The "Viking" are divided into five trains that specialize in different tasks:

  • Use and defuse of explosives
  • Boat pull for use on and under the water
  • a sniper platoon for targeted killing of enemies and for reconnaissance
  • a team for the intelligence service
  • a paratrooper unit to secure ports, surprise attacks and rescue hostages from airplanes

Members of this unit were already active in the Balkans and Afghanistan within the framework of NATO . Originally the unit was under the Reykjavík Police Chief, but in 2004 the supreme command was transferred by law to the National Police Commander.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Iceland. In: Simon Duke: United States Military Forces and Installations in Europe. Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-829132-9 , pp. 20ff.
  2. ^ Joseph F. Bouchard: Guarding the Cold War Ramparts - The US Navy's Role in Continental Air Defense . In: Naval War College Review . 1999.
  3. ^ Rodney Kennedy-Minott, US Regional Force Application: The Maritime Strategy and Its Effect on Nordic Stability. Hoover Institution Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-8179-5162-7 .