TheIceland Air Defence System (Icelandic:Íslenska loftvarnarkerfið) is a part of theIcelandic Coast Guard, funded byNATO.[1][2] It operates fourradar complexes, asoftware and support facility as well as a command and report centre.[2]
It is primarily used to monitor all military and civilian air traffic and direct alliedinterceptors based out of country and forms part of theNATO Integrated Air Defense System.[3]
The four facilities are located at the four extremeintercardinal points of Iceland:[4]
U.S. andNATO forces after WWII had already established quadrilateral radar coverage over Iceland using four radar sites at the same (or nearby) sites. H-1 and H-3 had been run by U.S. forces since WWII. Two older structures,H-2, Langanes Air Station (66°16′42.7″N014°59′33.2″W / 66.278528°N 14.992556°W /66.278528; -14.992556 (Bolungarvík AS H-1)) andH-4 Straumnes Air Station, were erected by the U.S. andNATO in the late 1950s but were abandoned and closed few years later due to high operation costs.[5]
The new H-2 and H-4 sites erected in the 1990s were built almost three decades later, but within 30 km (18 mi) of the original H-3/4 locations.
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The new radar system was established in 1987 under the IcelandicRadar Agency (Ratsjárstofnun) on behalf of theIcelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs after an agreement between Iceland and theUnited States on the takeover by the Icelanders of the operation and maintenance of radar stations of theIceland Defense Force.[1]
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$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.
