Story based on information provided by the Public
Affairs Office of the National Norwegian Joint Headquarters
Norway started a
four-week deployment in support of NATO’s mission of Air Surveillance and
Interception Capabilities to Meet Iceland’s Peacetime Preparedness Needs (ASIC
IPPN) at Keflavik Air Base outside the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.
Over the month of
May the Royal Norwegian Air Force prepared the bulk of the material required
for the deployment and airlifted it to Iceland with an advance party. On 30 May,
the main detachment was deployed comprised of four F-16 fighter jets and
approximately 80 personnel operating and maintaining the aircraft during their NATO
mission. The Norwegian detachment also includes military air traffic
controllers augmenting the Icelandic Coast Guard Control and Reporting Centre
to control the Norwegian F-16s during their flying missions.
Background to the mission
During the Cold War
there was a major American military presence at Keflavik Air Base in Iceland. Since early 2008, following the withdrawal of United States
forces, NATO has maintained the ASIC IPPN. On a rotational basis, NATO nations
provide air surveillance and interception capabilities by typically deploying
fighter aircraft to Keflavik airbase. After being certified
by Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem, Germany, these jets are used to
conduct flying training missions in accordance with NATO requirements. They
also provide the necessary degree of training to NATO and Icelandic support
personnel to make sure that the Alliance can conduct a full-scale peacetime air
policing mission at the shortest possible notice if required.
Expression of Alliance solidarity and readiness
Ten Allies have
so far been assigned slots to execute the mission here underlining the Alliance’s
common values and resolve. After 2009, 2011 and 2014, this is the fourth time
Norwegian fighter jets have executed the NATO mission at Iceland. The tasks they
accomplish here are similar to their mission at home in Bodø in northern
Norway: ensuring a 24/7 availability of so-called NATO Quick Reaction Alert or QRA
fighters prepared to launch in response to unidentified aircraft air incidents
near the Icelandic airspace. The ASIC IPPN mission like all of NATO’s Air
Policing across the European Allies’ territories is overseen by Headquarters
Allied Air Command at Ramstein, Germany.