The Iceland Air Defence System ( is, Íslenska Loftvarnarkerfið) is a part of the

Icelandic Coast Guard The Icelandic Coast Guard (, or simply ) is the Icelandic defence service responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, and law enforcement in the seas surrounding Iceland. The Coast Guard maintains the Iceland ...

. It was founded in 1987 under the Radar Agency of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs after an agreement between Iceland and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on the takeover by the Icelanders of the operation and maintenance of the radar stations of the

Iceland Defense Force The Iceland Defense Force ( is, Varnarlið Íslands; IDF) was a military command of the United States Armed Forces from 1951 to 2006. The IDF, created at the request of NATO, came into existence when the United States signed an agreement to p ...

. Between 2009–2011, it was a part of the

Icelandic Defence Agency Iceland's defence forces consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard, which patrols Icelandic waters and monitors its airspace, and other services such as the National Commissioner's National Security and Special Forces Units. Iceland maintains no sta ...

(''Varnarmálastofnun Íslands''). It operates four

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

complexes, a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

and support facility as well as a command and report centre. , it does not independently possess any offensive capabilities, but is primarily used instead to monitor air traffic and direct allied

interceptors An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are ca ...

based out of country. The four facilities are located at the four intercardinal points: * H-1 Miðnesheiði in the

Reykjanes peninsula Southern Peninsula ( is, Suðurnes ) is an administrative unit and part of Reykjanesskagi (pronounced ), or Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in southwest Iceland. It was named after Reykjanes, the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi. The region ha ...

(south-west) * H-2

Gunnólfsvíkurfjall Langanes () is a peninsula in northeast Iceland. The name literally means "long peninsula". It is long from southwest to northeast, ending in a thin strip of land called Fontur (regionally also ) where there is also a suggestive lighthouse calle ...

in the Langanes peninsula (nord-east) * H-3 Stokksnes near

Höfn Höfn () or Höfn í Hornafirði () is an Icelandic fishing town in the southeastern part of the country. It lies near Hornafjörður fjord. The town, the second largest in the southeastern part of Iceland, offers scenic views of Vatnajökull (t ...

(south-east) * H-4 Bolafjall close to

Bolungarvík Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...

in the Westfjords peninsula (nord-west) Two older structures, H-2 (Heidharhofn ) and H-4 ( Straumnes), were erected by the US and NATO in the late 1950's but where closed few years later due to high operation costs. The new H-2 and H-4 where build almost three decades later. According to the U.S. Department of State website (Office of Public Diplomacy, Iceland page, updated August 2008), the 2008 budget for the Government of Iceland is the first in the country's history to include funding for defence (

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

8.2 million); the money is earmarked for support of cooperative defence activities, military exercises in Iceland, and maintenance of defence-related facilities. This funding is in addition to roughly US$12 million in new expenditures for the operation of the Iceland Air Defence System radar sites, which the United States handed over to Iceland on August 15, 2007. At the start of 2010 Iceland Air Defence reported having a force of 25 employees.

References

External links

Iceland Air Defence System
Defence of Iceland 1987 establishments in Iceland {{europe-mil-stub

See also

References

External links