Czechs defend Iceland's airspace

Monitoring Iceland's airspace will be the responsibility of the Czech Air Force until December in accordance with a NATO operation which has seen various members of the defense alliance periodically patrolling Icelandic airspace since 2008.

Iceland has no air force of its own. The monitoring of the country's airspace was the responsibility of the United States Air Force from 1951 until 2006 when American forces were withdrawn from Iceland. The US Military first came to Iceland in the summer of 1941 to defend the country from possible aggression from Germany during World War II. Britain had previously occupied Iceland in May 1940 to prevent the country from falling into the hands of the German Wehrmacht.

Iceland's then Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde requested NATO and its member states to defend the country's airspace in 2006 after the US Military had left the country following failed negotiations on its continued presence. Iceland was a founding member of the defense alliance in 1949. Among the NATO members that have regularly monitored Iceland's airspace are the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark. This is the first time the Czech Air Force participates in the operation. The countries in question have usually used the opportunity to train their pilots in the often harsh northern conditions.

The Czech Air Force's monitoring of Iceland's airspace will begin on 9 October according to information from the Icelandic Coast Guard. A total of 80 personell and five JAS-39C Gripen fighter jets will participate in the operation along with the staff of NATO's Combined Air Operations Center in Uedem in Germany.