RUSI NewsbriefVOLUME 38ISSUE 7members only

A Fleeting or Permanent Military Presence? The Revival of US Anti-Submarine Operations from Iceland

Professor Valur Ingimundarson
24 August 2018clock13 Minute Read
aerial view of hangers in Keflavik

The US Naval Air Station in Keflavik, Iceland on 19 August 1982. The base was used to conduct marine and anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic as part of the 1951 US–Iceland defence agreement, until the base was closed in 2006. Though US troops hav

Increased Russian naval activities in the North Atlantic have refocused Western military attention on Iceland’s geostrategic importance. But even if the US has resumed irregular Cold War-style maritime and anti-submarine patrols from Iceland, there are no plans to reopen the American military base on the island.

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WRITTEN BY

Professor Valur Ingimundarson

Senior Associate Fellow; Professor of Contemporary History, University of Iceland

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