The Northern Viking 2024 defence exercise will kick off in Iceland on Monday, focusing on improving cooperation and readiness between the U.S., Iceland, and Allied nations.
The recurring exercise brings together forces to practise protecting infrastructure, securing key sea routes, and enhancing search and rescue operations. It also aims to strengthen coordination among various Icelandic agencies.
Northern Viking has been a regular event since 1982, and is rooted in the 1951 Defence Agreement between the two countries where the U.S. took on the responsibility of defending Iceland, a country without its own military.
This year’s exercise will see military forces from the United States, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Portugal coming together. Their ships and aircraft, along with units from the Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1)—a multinational naval force operating under NATO—will play a key role in the exercise.
Most of the activities will take place around Keflavík Air Base.
In a news release on Friday, the Government of Iceland said a main focus of the exercise is securing key sea routes in the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap. The gap is a vital stretch of ocean between the three countries that’s crucial for controlling naval and air traffic in the North Atlantic. Läs artikel