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The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

Pentagon Looking at Iceland Hub For its Spy Planes

The U.S. Navy looking to re-up a Cold War base to help it spot Russian subs

By Paul McLeary

A Boeing P-8-A Poseidon is pictured during an air display on the second day of the Farnborough International Air show in Hampshire, England, on July 15, 2014. The biennial event sees leading companies from the aviation industry showcase their latest technology. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT (Photo credit should read CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

February 11, 2016, 7:57 AM

Likely one of the lesser-known diplomatic pacts Washington maintains is a 1951 treaty with Iceland, in which the U.S. assumes responsibility for the protection of the tiny island nation. Throughout the Cold War, the Pentagon even ran something called the Iceland Defense Force -- which only closed up shop in 2006 -- and flew spy planes and fighter jets out of Naval Air Station Keflavík.

Likely one of the lesser-known diplomatic pacts Washington maintains is a 1951 treaty with Iceland, in which the U.S. assumes responsibility for the protection of the tiny island nation. Throughout the Cold War, the Pentagon even ran something called the Iceland Defense Force — which only closed up shop in 2006 — and flew spy planes and fighter jets out of Naval Air Station Keflavík.

Thanks to increased Russian air and sea activity in the North Atlantic, however, the U.S. Navy is taking a new look at Keflavík. As part of this week’s 2017 budget rollout, the Navy requested $19 million to reopen at least part of the air station to start landing P-8A Poseidon spy planes there. The Poseidon specializes in submarine tracking, and with Russian sub activity in the Baltic and North Atlantic surpassing Cold War levels, the Pentagon is looking to move back in.

The money is part of the Pentagon’s $3.4 billion request to bolster defenses in Europe.

In the decade since the 2006 U.S. pullout, Iceland has hosted a series of “peacetime preparedness missions” where aircraft from various NATO countries use Keflavik to fly air defense patrols. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work even visited the base last fall to call attention to the increase Russian military flights around Iceland, and toured an airplane hangar there that would need to be expanded to house the P-8A Poseidon.

But Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs is sounding a note of caution. Already under some pressure for backing economic sanctions against Russia — which caused Moscow to place an embargo on importing food from Iceland in August 2015 — the ministry issued a very precise statement Wednesday about the Navy’s request.

“There are no talks taking place between Iceland and the U.S. on permanent stationing of American servicemen in Iceland,” the statement read. But a big caveat followed: “On the other hand, it has been clearly evident that the European security environment has undergone great changes in recent years.” That, the statement said, has led to discussions “on the possibility of increased presence of U.S. and other NATO allies in the North Atlantic and in Iceland on the basis of our mutual defense commitments.”

It should be noted that the Navy’s request to fix the airplane hanger and the areas around it for $19 million falls far short of the $250 million it cost the Pentagon annually to maintain the base when it was up and fully running. In other words, landing and refueling planes at the base likely wouldn’t involve a “permanent stationing” of U.S. forces there, which would seem to suit Washington and Reykjavik just fine.
Photo Credit: CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images

Tag: Russia