Sweden sends Gripen fighters to Iceland for NATO Arctic air policing

Sweden will deploy a Gripen fighter unit to Iceland in February and March 2026 to support NATO’s incident preparedness mission, taking on joint air defense tasks in the Arctic region, the Swedish Armed Forces said on January 19, 2026.

The deployment will see a fighter unit equivalent to a fighter division, along with ground personnel from Skaraborg Air Flotilla (F 7), operate from Keflavik Air Base. In Swedish Air Force terminology, a fighter division typically fields around eight to twelve aircraft.

First Swedish fighter detachment to Iceland under NATO tasking

Swedish Gripen fighter jets deployed to Iceland (Credit: Jesper Sundström/Swedish Armed Forces)The Swedish Armed Forces said the operation will be the first time the Swedish Air Force bases in Iceland as part of NATO’s incident preparedness, and the first time Skaraborg Air Flotilla contributes a fighter unit to a NATO operation.

Since late 2025, Sweden has been part of NATO’s Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFC Norfolk) operational area, which stretches from North America to the Finnish and Norwegian borders with Russia and includes the Arctic and the transatlantic link between North America and Europe.

“The Arctic is part of our new area of operations in NATO and a strategically important area. It constitutes an important piece of the puzzle in the defense of the alliance and we know that Russia has ambitions in the Arctic,” said Vice Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum, head of the Swedish Armed Forces operations command, in a statement. “The fact that we will now contribute to stability and security in the area shows that Sweden and the Armed Forces take responsibility for NATO’s joint air defense tasks.”

Sweden’s Chief of the Air Force, Major General Jonas Wikman, said the service’s experience operating under NATO leadership in Poland last year demonstrated that it has both the ability and capacity to contribute to incident preparedness and airspace surveillance of allied airspace.

Iceland mission builds on previous Nordic deployments

Though this is the first time that Skaraborg Air Flotilla has participated with a fighter unit in a NATO operation, the flotilla’s special aviation squadron, flying the Saab 340 AEW&C aircraft, was previously based in Iceland in June 2024 to carry out airborne surveillance and combat control under NATO leadership in connection with the NATO summit in Reykjavik.

“The combat aviation unit is well equipped for the task and, just like the other units of the Air Force, we have extensive experience in incident preparedness,” said Lieutenant Colonel Johan Legardt, the contingent commander from Skaraborg Air Flotilla. “We are also used to operating in winter climates and have the conditions to act on the different types of threats that we may face when protecting the territorial integrity of Iceland.”

Since 2008, NATO air forces have periodically rotated fighter detachments through Keflavik to provide air policing for Iceland, which does not operate its own combat aircraft.The post Sweden sends Gripen fighters to Iceland for NATO Arctic air policing appeared first on AeroTime.

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