Iceland Defense Force

The emblem of the Iceland Defense Force
North American F-51D Mustangs of the 192nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron (Nevada Air National Guard) stationed at Keflavik, 1952–1953
U.S. Air Force F-15 stationed at Keflavik

The Iceland Defense Force (Icelandic: Varnarlið Íslands; IDF) was a military sub-unified command of the United States Department of Defense.[1] It existed from 1951 to 2006. It came into existence when the United States agreed to provide for the defense of Iceland, which has only limited defense forces.

The IDF was composed of United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force personnel as well as local Icelandic civilians. In the 1950s, there were United States Army field forces stationed in Iceland, and the first commander of the IDF was a U.S. Army brigadier general. By the 1980s the IDF only included a few U.S. Army and, in addition, some United States Coast Guard personnel.

  1. ^ Lieutenant Commander Robert A. Fliegel, USN (August 1980). "Iceland: Unique in NATO". Proceedings of the US Naval Institute.