Military of Iceland

Military Of Iceland

Iceland's defences consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard which patrols Icelandic waters and airspace and other services such as the National Commissioner's National Security and Special Forces Units. Iceland is however the only NATO member which maintains no standing army, although there is no legal impediment to forming one and Icelandic services perform the operations fellow NATO allies relegate to their standing armies.

The Coast Guard consists of three ships and four aircraft and armed with small arms, naval artillery, and Air Defense weaponry. The Coast Guard also maintains the Icelandic Air Defense System, formerly part of the disestablished Defence Agency, which conducts ground surveillance of Iceland's air space.

Units subordinated to the National Commissioner also take part in Iceland's defences. Foremost of these are the National Security Unit, which handles intelligence operations and the special unit Víkingasveitin, a highly trained and equipped counter terrorism unit which is part of the National Police force.

Additionally there is a Crisis Response Unit (ICRU), operated by the Ministry for Foreign affairs, which is a small armed peacekeeping force, that has been deployed internationally.

There is in addition, a treaty with the United States for military defenses and formerly maintained a military base, Naval Air Station Keflavik, in Iceland until September 2006, when U.S. military forces withdrew. There are also agreements about military and other security operations with Norway, Denmark and other NATO countries.

Iceland holds the annual NATO exercises entitled Northern Viking. The most recent exercises were held in 2011, as well as the EOD exercise "Northern Challenge". In 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercise, "Cooperative Safeguard", which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000. Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF.

The government of Iceland contributes financially to NATO's international overhead costs and recently has taken a more active role in NATO deliberations and planning. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987. Additionally Norway has agreed to grant Icelandic citizens the same eligibility as Norwegian citizens for military education in Norway and to serve as professional soldiers in the Norwegian Defence forces.