Iceland Defense Force
The Iceland Defense Force (
Organization
The IDF was formally headquartered at
The IDF was a subordinate unified command of United States Atlantic Command for a long period before passing to the control of the renamed United States Joint Forces Command.[1] From October 2002 until its disbandment, it was under the control of the United States European Command.
The IDF was composed of United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force personnel as well as local Icelandic civilians. In addition, there were a few Army and Coast Guard personnel attached to this command.
From 1951 to 1959, a secret ban was imposed by the Icelandic government on the stationing of black US troops in Iceland. This ban was disclosed in late 1959. The Icelandic government relented somewhat from this policy in 1961, when it declared that it "will not oppose the inclusion of three or four colored soldiers in the Defense Force, but hopes that they will be carefully selected". The number of black troops increased gradually throughout the 1960s, and all restrictions were most likely unofficially withdrawn in the 1970s or 1980s.[2]
There were more than 25 different commands of various sizes attached to the Iceland Defense Force. Although staffing varied over the years, it was approximately 1350 U.S. military personnel (not including Reservists), 100 Department of Defense civilians, and 650 Icelanders, both civilians and firemen given military training manning the local Naval Firefighting team, as well as military members from Norway, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom worked on NAS Keflavik. A contingent of the United States Marine Corps was responsible for ground defense.
The U.S. Air Force component of the force was the
In the event of a major ground threat, the Army component, U.S. Army Iceland (ARICE), would have mobilized and become responsible for the ground defense of Iceland. ARICE consisted almost entirely of reserve components (from 1963 until 1994, the main formation was the Army Reserve's 187th Infantry Brigade) in the United States, and limited numbers of personnel participated in on-site training maneuvers. Logistical support was to be provided by the 167th Support Group (Corps), another Army Reserve unit. Neither the 187th Infantry Brigade nor the 167th Support Group were ever deployed to Iceland.
From 1951 to 2006, the Iceland Defense Force provided between 2% and 5% of Iceland's GDP.[4][page needed]
Exercises
Operation Nordic Shield II was held in the summer of 1992. As they did five years before, units of the
Operation Northern Viking is a series of defense of Iceland exercises, held biennially for several years. In 2006 the frequency was increased.
Termination
On 15 March 2006, the
The Icelandic defence contractor Kögun (now part of Advania) has been contracted to operate and service U.S. Navy communications equipment and facilities left behind.
It was reported in February 2016 that the US Navy would return to Iceland to track Russian submarines.[7]
See also
- Military of Iceland
- Icelandic Coast Guard
- Iceland Crisis Response Unit
- Icelandic Air Policing
- Naval Air Station Keflavik
- Iceland in the Cold War
Further reading
- Jane's Defence Weekly 30 March 1991
- Government of Iceland-Foreign Affairs, National Security
References
- ^ Pike, John. "Iceland Defense Force". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- S2CID 57559468.
- ^ a b Joris Janssen Lok, "No thaw in Cold War for Iceland", Jane's Defence Weekly, 5 November 1994, p.15
- ^ Thorhallsson, Baldur, ed. (2018). "Small States and Shelter Theory: Iceland's External Affairs". Routledge.
- ^ White, Josh (17 March 2006). "U.S. to Remove Military Forces And Aircraft From Iceland Base". Retrieved 18 April 2018 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
- ^ "Geopolitical Diary: The U.S. Withdrawal from Iceland". Stratfor. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "Navy returning to former Cold War base in Iceland". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 2016-02-09.