The Icelandic Defense Force (IDF) is the military body responsible for protecting Iceland, headquartered at Keflavík, and manned by United States military personnel. It is a subordinate unified command of U.S. European Command and is composed of Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel as well as local Icelandic civilians.
The IDF was created in 1951 when, at the request of NATO, the United States signed an agreement to provide for the defense of Iceland and the North Atlantic. There are more than 25 different commands of various sizes attached to Iceland Defense Force. Approximately 1800 U.S. military personnel, 100 United States Department of Defense civilians, and 850 Icelandic civilians as well as military members from the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and Denmark work on NAS Keflavik. The air force component of the force is the 85th Group, whereas its army component, responsible for the ground defense of Iceland, is the U.S. Army Iceland (ARICE), consisting entirely of reserve components from the United States.
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