Iceland Defense Force
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The Iceland Defense Force (IDF) was the military command responsible for protecting Iceland, headquartered at Keflavík, and manned by the United States armed forces from 1951 to 2006. It was a subordinate unified command of United States Atlantic Command for a long period before passing to the control of the renamed United States Joint Forces Command,[1] but it may have come under the control of European Command for a time shortly before its disbandment. The Force was composed of Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force personnel as well as local Icelandic civilians. In addition, there were a few Army and Coast Guard personnel attached to this command.
The IDF was created in 1951 when, at the request of NATO, the United States signed an agreement to provide for the defense of Iceland. There were more than 25 different commands of various sizes attached to Iceland Defense Force. Approximately 1350 U.S. military personnel, 100 Department of Defense civilians, and 650 Icelanders, both civilians and firemen given military training manning the local Naval Firefighting team, as well as military members from Norway, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom worked on NAS Keflavik. (The base is actually apparently at Miðnesheiði near Keflavik, but was always referred to as 'Keflavik'.) The U.S. Air Force component of the force was the 85th Group, whereas a contingent of the United States Marine Corps was responsible for ground defense. In the event of a major ground threat, the Army component, U.S. Army Iceland (ARICE), would have mobilized and become responsible for the ground defense of Iceland. ARICE consisted almost entirely of reserve components (until 1994, the main formation was the Army Reserve's 187th Infantry Brigade) in the United States, and limited numbers of personnel participated in on-site training maneuvers.
On 15 March 2006 the U.S. Ambassador to Iceland announced the decision of the United States to withdraw the Iceland Defense Force before the end of September 2006. On September 30, the last American military personnel left Keflavík.
The Icelandic defence contractor Kögun has been contracted to operate and service U.S. Navy communications equipment and facilities left behind.
