NATO commander argues for permanent allied military presence in Iceland

“Iceland is in such a strategically important military location that it is unavoidable that these troops continue to be here, both for exercises and operations.”

That was NATO’s supreme commander in Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, in Reykjavík this week, describing continuous rotations of allied personnel through Iceland for the foreseeable future in remarks broadcast by Icelandic public broadcaster RÚV.

“Although the presence will not be permanent and troops will not be permanently based here, there will be continuous rotations of NATO personnel from across the Alliance, including from the United States,” he said.

Grynkewich, who serves both as NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and as commander of US European Command, was in Iceland for Northern Viking 2026, the bilateral exercise with the United States that opened at Keflavík Air Base on Tuesday. He met Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir and Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir beforehand. American anti-submarine aircraft already operate from Keflavík almost continuously, he noted, with allied contributions to that mission growing.

He pointed to an ongoing review of American force posture as an opening. “That is why I think there are real opportunities in this review of our posture to think about what we can jointly contribute to defense on both sides of the Atlantic,” he told RÚV. “I think it is clear that the United States is interested in continuing to operate from here in defense of North America and in defense of the Alliance.”

The near term needs working through, he said, but the longer view points north: “In the longer term we really need to focus on the Arctic and security there. That will become increasingly important for all of us over the coming decades.”

Grynkewich said NATO and the United States had effectively neglected the Arctic, and that the changed security environment now makes long-term investment and development necessary. He said he and Frostadóttir had discussed how to plan for funding and for the infrastructure a roughly 20-year scenario would require.

The case for a sustained American stake in Iceland sits alongside a US push for Europe to shoulder more. In a Sixth Fleet statement issued the same day, Vice Adm. J. T. Anderson said the exercise builds interoperability among NATO maritime forces “so that European Allies can take over primary responsibility for deterrence and defense in the European Theater.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Grynkewich framed the requirement in blunt terms. “We live in dangerous times. None of us can do this on our own,” he said, adding that the Arctic warranted particular attention because NATO’s adversaries were asserting themselves there.

“Today, purported Russian and Chinese research vessels are conducting joint patrols,” he said. “We all know they are not here to count puffins.”

He also set out what the exercise itself is meant to sharpen. “We will deliver precision effects and will practice defense against rapidly proliferating unmanned systems,” he said, describing plans to integrate real-time data streams and AI-enabled decision support “to make decisions at the speed of future conflict.”

Frostadóttir said Iceland is meeting all its commitments and working closely with NATO and the United States. She said the country was meeting the 1.5 percent figure on the shared understanding that the 3.5 percent benchmark is accounted for by Iceland’s strategic position and geography, a point on which she said everyone agrees. That would nonetheless mean further investment and more activity in this part of the world, she said.

What gets built

No costed plan has been published, but the shape of one emerged across the two days.

Grynkewich said discussions were still underway on exactly what long-term development should take place, describing the aim as “continuing to invest here, investing in communications infrastructure, sensors and port infrastructure that could benefit the Alliance in the future.”

Gunnarsdóttir was more specific. Infrastructure at Keflavík is to be strengthened, Iceland’s four large radar stations will need renewal in the coming years in cooperation with NATO and allies, and work is already underway to expand the harbor at Helguvík. What Iceland contributes is valuable and front-rank, she said, but it means increased spending on defense and security.

Radar, anti-submarine warfare and communications are the likeliest components of any eventual investment program, though nothing has been determined.

Northern Viking runs from August 22 to September 3 on land and in the surrounding waters. This year’s exercise marks 75 years since the 1951 bilateral defense agreement that made the United States responsible for the defense of Iceland, which has no standing military of its own. First held in 1982, the exercise is staged roughly every second year and focuses this time on anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, expeditionary construction, search and rescue, humanitarian medical response and disaster response, with an emphasis on securing the sea lines of communication through the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap.