Naval Air Station Keflavik

Naval Air Station Keflavik
Near Reykjanesbær, Southern Peninsula in Iceland
Three US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft parked on the apron of NAS Keflavik during November 2019
NAS Keflavik Location in Iceland
Coordinates	63°59′06″N 22°36′20″W / 63.98500°N 22.60556°W / 63.98500; -22.60556
Type	Naval Air Station
Site information
Owner	Icelandic Government
Operator	United States Navy
Controlled by	Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central
Condition	Operational
Site history
Built	1951 (1951)
In use	1951 – 2006 2017 – present
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: KEF, ICAO: BIKF, WMO: 040180
Elevation	51.5 metres (169 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 10/28 3,065 metres (10,056 ft) Asphalt 01/19 3,054 metres (10,020 ft) Asphalt 04/22 2,042 metres (6,699 ft) Asphalt 09/27 1,494 metres (4,902 ft) Asphalt 18/36 1,310 metres (4,298 ft) Asphalt
Airfield shared with Keflavík International Airport Source: Iceland Aeronautical Information Publication[1]

Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) is a United States Navy air station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilities were taken over by the Icelandic Defence Agency as their primary base until 1 January 2011, when the Agency was abolished and the base handed over to the Icelandic Coast Guard, which operated the base until 2017.^[2] US forces returned to Keflavik in 2016, renovating parts of the base to accommodate P-8As on short duration/expeditionary detachments.^[3][4]

The base was built during World War II by the United States Army as part of its mission to maintain the defense of Iceland and secure northern Atlantic air routes. It served to ferry personnel, equipment, and supplies to Europe. Intended as a temporary wartime base under an agreement with Iceland and the British, U.S. forces withdrew by 1947 but returned in 1951 as the Iceland Defense Force resident on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base. The base was regularly visited by the American military and other NATO allies for military exercises, NATO Air Policing, and other tasks. In 2017, the United States announced its intention to modify the largest hangar on the Icelandic base in order to house the new Boeing P-8 Poseidon ASW aircraft being introduced.^[5]