Military

Iceland's Quiet Support of Ukraine Is Significant

Austin Smith

Published: September 2, 2024 7:30 am

Key Points:

• Iceland supports NATO with its Coast Guard, monitoring air defenses, and hosting military exercises.
• Contributes financially and aids Ukraine despite limited resources.
• Small population and GDP limit military impact, but strategic location remains crucial to NATO.
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Austin Smith and Michael Muir discuss Iceland’s contributions to NATO, despite the country’s lack of a traditional military. Michael explains that while Iceland falls short of the 2% GDP defense spending target, it still plays a crucial role in NATO by monitoring air defenses over a vast area and hosting important military exercises. Iceland also contributes financially and provides training and humanitarian aid, particularly in support of Ukraine. Despite its small population and limited resources, Iceland remains a valuable NATO member, contributing in ways that go beyond financial and military measures.

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Edited Video Transcript:

But let’s talk a little bit about Iceland’s commitments to NATO.

You mentioned they’re a founding member.

That’s a good part of their history there.

But they are falling well short of their current commitments to NATO.

Is that largely just a lack of pressure because of where they’re located nationally?

Yeah, well, I think there’s something that should be noted is that NATO does allow a certain amount of flexibility for its members.

Some have removed themselves from the command structure.

And that’s actually something we’ll get into a little bit when we talk about some of the other internal tensions.

Like France did it in the 60s, and they came back.

Greece did it briefly.

But Iceland’s position, what they contribute, you know, it’s not just location is the important point to make.

So Iceland, the closest thing Iceland has to armed forces is its coast guard, and they monitor NATO’s air defenses on Iceland.

That’s four radar stations that cover a geographic area roughly the size of Germany.

So it’s a really vast area.

They’re basically monitoring that around the clock.

In the 90s, there was less interest in Iceland because of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But really, in the last 10 years, it’s kind of picked up again.

There’s an air base that the Americans built in Iceland that was temporarily shut down but is now operational again.

Just last month, in July, the British and the American air forces ran training exercises there.

So it’s really important for that, for running training exercises.

They contribute financially as well to NATO’s running costs.

And if we look at Ukraine and what aid Iceland has provided for its limited means, it is pulling its weight.

The Czech Republic’s artillery munitions scheme, Iceland has contributed to that.

They’ve contributed a field hospital.

They have trained Ukrainian forces in bomb disposal.

They provide other types of humanitarian aid.

And the other thing I think we should point out is even if Iceland’s parliament today decided to create armed forces, what would they even look like?

Well, let’s think about Iceland’s population.

It’s only about 400,000.

Military age is a fraction of that.

And then think about their GDP, their GDP, which is about 25 billion, give or take.

So 2% of that, what’s that, 500 million?

That’s not really going to get you an awful lot.

So even if Iceland created an army tomorrow, it would not really have any material effect on NATO’s military efficiency.

So I think it’s fair to say that they’re an outlier, but they are contributing in the way that they can, and they’re still an important member of the alliance.

So, yes, I guess not all NATO contributions are made in dollars and cents, right?

You know, there are many ways that Iceland here, you know, practically speaking, their most valuable contribution might not be dollars or military.

It might be training and, you know, the ability to, you know, with their coast guards or other military functions.