Sweden carries out a NATO operation in Iceland

Since the end of last year, the Swedish Armed Forces have belonged to a new NATO area of operations, JFC Norfolk. The area stretches from North America to the borders of Finland and Norway with Russia. The operational area includes the Arctic and the vital transatlantic link that connects North America with Europe. Seven of the eight Arctic countries are NATO members, with Sweden being one of them; Russia is the eighth.

“The Arctic is part of our new NATO area of operations and a strategically important region. It constitutes a key piece in the defence of the Alliance, and we know that Russia has ambitions in the Arctic. The fact that we are now contributing to stability and security in the region demonstrates that Sweden and the Swedish Armed Forces are taking responsibility for NATO’s collective air defence tasks,” says the Chief of Operations, Vice Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum.

A division deployed to Iceland

A fighter unit equivalent to a fighter wing, including ground personnel from Skaraborg Air Wing (F 7), will be based at Keflavík Air Base.

“We have experience in maintaining and safeguarding NATO’s territorial integrity following our deployments in Poland last year. Those operations demonstrated that we have both the capability and capacity to operate under NATO command and to contribute to NATO’s air policing and airspace surveillance of Allied airspace,” says the Chief of the Air Force, Major General Jonas Wikman.

For the first time

This is the first time that Skaraborg Air Wing is contributing a fighter unit to a NATO operation. The wing’s special mission squadron was previously based in Iceland in 2024 to conduct airborne surveillance and battle management under NATO command in connection with the NATO Summit. On that occasion as well, the Air Force contributed a highly advanced capability to NATO’s air operations.

“The fighter unit is well prepared for the task, and like the Air Force’s other units, we have extensive experience in air policing. We are also accustomed to operating in winter conditions and have the capability to respond to the various types of threats we may face while protecting Iceland’s territorial integrity,” says the Contingent Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Johan Legardt of Skaraborg Air Wing.

The Swedish fighter aircraft and air command and control will be directed by NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany. NATO’s airspace surveillance and air policing mission is known as Air Policing and has been conducted since the early 1960s.