In February this year, the Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat) will, for the first time, participate in the NATO Iceland Air Policing mission. The Finnish deployment will consist of four F/A-18 Hornet fighters and about 50 airmen.
The Icelandic mission will be the third international deployment of the Finnish Air Force since the country´s accession to NATO in April of 2023. Already in July of that year, the Finnish F/A-18 Hornets were among the aircraft securing the Lithuanian airspace during the NATO Summit in Vilnius. Then, for two summer months of 2024, Ilmavoimat participated in the NATO Air Policing and Air Shielding missions in Romania.
´Finland’s participation in the NATO Icelandic Air Policing mission will strengthen the Alliance’s presence in the High North. The deployment will be a concrete example of Nordic cooperation and the Finnish Air Force’s capability to carry out missions throughout NATO territory. The Norwegian and Danish Air Forces have regularly contributed to the Air Policing mission in Iceland, so this is a natural task for Finland as well. It is in line with Finland’s objectives that NATO has recognized the strategic importance of the High North´, said Commander of the Finnish Air Force, Major General Timo Herranen.
The idea of Iceland Air Policing origins from 2006, when the country for the first time asked NATO to deploy the Alliance fighter aircraft there, in order to provide protection of the Icelandic airspace.
The reason was that Iceland has no standing army and its defence forces includes only coast guard and special forces units. Until 2006, the country´s airspace was protected by the Icelandic Defense Force (IDF) – a regular deployment of the United States Armed Forces to Iceland, nevertheless on 15th March 2006, the US Department of Defence decided about withdrawal of the IDF by the end of the year.
The first NATO fighter aircraft deployment within the new Icelandic Air Policing operation took place in May to June of 2008 and was executed by the French Air Force. The French contingent consisted of four Mirage 2000 fighters and approximately 110 military personnel.
Until now, the Iceland Air Policing missions were executed by eleven Alliance member countries: Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most of the air forces, apart from France and Poland, were deployed to Iceland several times.
The northern missions were executed with a broad range of fighter aircraft types, including F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, CF-18 Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon and JAS-39 Gripen. The Icelandic Air Policing was also marked by one of the last international deployment of F-4 Phantom II (Germany in April of 2012) and the first deployment of F-35 Lightning II 5th generation fighter (Italy in September/October of 2018).
Similarly to previous deployments, the main task of the Iceland Air Policing 2025 operation will be performing Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties. They include monitoring the country’s airspace, as well as overseeing all traffic in and near the airspace.
In case of detecting any unknown aircraft in the vicinity of the Icelandic airspace, the fighters are alerted and – guided by Control and Reporting Centre personnel – send to locate the unknown aircraft, identify and document them. If necessary, the QRA aeroplanes can escort the violating aircraft out of the NATO area or to designated airfields. In addition, they can transfer the authority over the QRA aircraft to civil authorities, should a civil hijacking apply. As usual, the NATO fighters will operate from Keflavík Air Base.
´For the Finnish Air Force, the objectives of the deployment are to gain experience in conducting Quick Reaction Alert duty in Iceland as part of NATO Air Policing operations, to enhance our NATO integration and to develop our capability to deploy a fighter detachment to an Allied air base. Last summer, the Finnish Air Force operated in Romania in the southern part of NATO. Now we will take our turn in the High North, demonstrating that we are an active, responsible and professional ally´ – explained Herranen.
The Finnish deployment will be executed by Lapland Air Wing, however it is also going to include personnel from other Ilmavoimat units. The aircraft, necessary equipment and supplies, as well as the airmen, are planned to be transferred to Iceland at the end of January 2025.
Approximately at the same time, the Combined Air Operations Centre, subordinate to the Allied Air Command (AIRCOM), will organise a certification event, after which the Finnish fighter detachment will start QRA duties in Iceland.
The Finnish Air Force deployment to Iceland is planned to last three weeks.
Information from Ilmavoimat / the Finnish Air Force and NATO press releases were used. All quotations © Ilmavoimat / Finnish Air Force.
