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I think it's got more to do with sharing costs for this air policing task, not so much a strategic measure... Especially since the one way distance to Iceland is 1500NM, and Norway could well prevent a threat from Novaya Zemlya to Iceland by flying fighters from Bardufoss, Andoya or even Bodo...Flyboy wrote:Will this be in response to the Russian build up of MiG 31 BM's at Rogachyovo Arctic base on the island of Novaya Zemlya ??
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http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... eland.htmlSwedish Air Force to Defend Iceland
(Source: Radio Sweden; published Oct. 26, 2012)
Swedish fighter jets may soon be patrolling the airspace over Iceland – taking the place of US planes, stationed there since the Cold War.
Earlier this week the Social Democratic Party supported the government’s proposal for a joint Swedish-Finnish operation over Iceland.
Although Sweden is a Nato partner country, this was a major step away from the official policy of non-allignment, says Magnus Christiansson at the Swedish National Defence College.
“Iceland asked for this because the US is closing its airforce base there,” he told Radio Sweden.
“It’s a question of territorial defence – Nato's article Five, which Sweden is not party to.”
According to Article 5 of the Nato treaty an attack on one country is seen as an attack on the entire alliance.
And that is precisely the doctrine which the Swedish government signed up to in 2009 with regard to the Nordic countries – a decision which Christiansson puts down to economics.
“The money for defence was starting to run out. So in order to maintain their defence capability they’ve had to cooperate,” he said.
The perceived threat from Russia is often mentioned in political debates about Sweden’s air defences. So what do the Russians make of its non-aligned neighbours taking over Nato patrols over Iceland?
They are keeping a close eye on the changes and consider it as a Nato reinforcement in the Nordic region, according to Christiansson.
You may believe that, but it isn't as Norway already has a presence in Iceland. Asking Sweden and Finland to participate is to lessen the financial burden on Norway's defence budget.Sanderm wrote:It's a strange story. The US left Iceland in 2006. Iceland do not have any air defence for a couple of years now. After the financial crisis they did only keep two helicopters and one MPA in service. I believe that stationing planes at Iceland is a reaction on the move of the Russians.
There are no fighter jets permanently stationed at Iceland. There are some deployments of NATO air forces but these deployments cover only a part of the year. Norway is going to set up a permant air defence in cooperation with Sweden and Finland. In the first post of this topic it is mentioned that it should be operational in 2014. At this time Iceland is unprotected.pjotrtje wrote: Sanderm wrote:
It's a strange story. The US left Iceland in 2006. Iceland do not have any air defence for a couple of years now. After the financial crisis they did only keep two helicopters and one MPA in service. I believe that stationing planes at Iceland is a reaction on the move of the Russians.
You may believe that, but it isn't as Norway already has a presence in Iceland. Asking Sweden and Finland to participate is to lessen the financial burden on Norway's defence budget.
...and as http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... tions.html shows not all Finnish government parties are all too happy about this decision...Finland to Join Patrols of Icelandic Airspace
(Source: YLE Finnish Broadcasting Corp.; updated Oct. 31, 2012)
Finnish air force jets are to participate in joint patrols of Icelandic airspace together with Sweden.
The decision was announced by Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen at Tuesday’s Nordic Council meeting in Helsinki.
"We have decided that it would be natural for Sweden and Finland to join Norway’s surveillance stint between January and April 2014," said Katainen.
The decision will be confirmed by parliament once all the details connected with the mission are clear. Sweden also announced today its decision to join next year’s patrols.
The North Atlantic Council will have to approve the participation of the two non-NATO countries in the patrols.
Nordic foreign ministers will go through the details of the joint patrols tomorrow.
A survey of Finnish reservists found that just one fifth supported Finnish participation
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