General

The Republic of Iceland, a NATO member, maintains no standing army. It maintains however a well trained Coast Guard, Police forces, Air Defence system as well as a voluntary expeditionary peacekeeping forces. Iceland has, in addition, a treaty with the United States for military defences, which maintained a military base in Iceland until September 2006.

The Government of Iceland contributes financially to NATO's international overhead costs and recently has taken a more active role in NATO deliberations and planning. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987 and participates in biennial NATO exercises entitled "Northern Viking" in Iceland; the most recent exercises were held in 2001. In 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercise, "Cooperative Safeguard," which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000. Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF.

Overview

Military branches:
no regular military forces; Icelandic National Police (2006)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 69,038 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 56,777 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0% (2005 est.)

Military - note:
under a 1951 bilateral agreement, Iceland's defense was provided by a US-manned Icelandic Defense Force (IDF) headquartered in Keflavik; in October 2006, all US military forces in Iceland were withdrawn; nonetheless, the US and Iceland signed a Joint Understanding to strengthen their bilateral defense relationship, including regular security consultations, military communications in the event of national emergencies, annual bilateral exercises on Icelandic territory, and future bilateral and NATO support to four Iceland Air Defence System (IADS) radar sites