Iceland Air Defense Program

The defense of Iceland and the surrounding area has been a mutual interest of the United States and Iceland since the early years of World War II. The common goals were formalized in the 1951 Defense Agreement and in 1953 the United States began operating and maintaining the first radar stations in Iceland. During the late 1970s and 1980s intercept missions doubled and it became evident the existing defense system needed a boost. Improvements were needed to maintain the air defense and surveillance mission, and provide improved security and safety for the growing civilian air traffic. Iceland is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and NATO agreed to replace the aging radars and upgrade the command and control system. Four new FPS-117(V)5 long range, three-dimensional radars were installed by 1994 and a command and control and communications upgrade was completed by 1997. 

Today, the upgrade of the command and control system is known as the Iceland Air Defense System (IADS) and it includes a control and reporting center, software and support facility and a communications suite capable of on and off-island interoperability. The control and reporting center, located on Naval Air Station Keflavik along with the software and support facility, receives and processes data from the radars positioned at the four corners of the island. 

Iceland provides maintenance and software support for the IADS and radars through the Government of Iceland Radar Agency under contracts managed by the Surveillance Division of the Program Management Squadron. The United States provides Air Force operators at the control and reporting center, but the radars are manned completely with Radar Agency personnel. This arrangement continues the spirit of cooperation outlined in the 1951 Defense Agreement. As a non-profit entity specifically created to support the new air defense system, the Radar Agency began providing maintenance services for the radars in 1992 and the IADS in 1997, and today employs more than 100 professional managers, engineers and technicians.