Icelandic armed forces - part II

The onset of the Cold War worried the Icelandic nation to a certain degree already in the late 1940s. The government looked at various solutions to this security problem. Among which an alliance with the Nordic countries with military aid from the US was considered very preferable. However the US was unwilling to support such a venture. Instead Iceland became one of the founding members of NATO in 1949.

[Soviet bomber shadowed by a US interceptor out of Iceland.]

One of the governments primary aim was to keep no permanent foreign military troops in the country. However the start of the Korean War and large fleet of Soviet dual purpose vessels stationed north of the country (fishing fleet allegedly) changed the predicament. A military defence treaty was signed with the US and a considerable contingent of American troops were based in the country. The main goal of this contingent was Anti Submarine Warfare and the interception of bombers, its ground force merely designated to defend the immediate areas around the main base in Keflavík.

[Icelandic Coast Guard in the 1970s.]

All other security measures still fell on the shoulders of the Icelandic nation. In spite of the immense subversion and propaganda activities by the Soviet Union and their political allies within Iceland the Icelandic government managed to continue with a number of reforms in order to improve the country's readiness to face Soviet aggression and other ensure its sovereignty. However not all reforms were  successfully completed. Among them the establishment of a Coast Guard infantry force to complement the Police in the countryside and in wartime was not finished in the 1950s as planned and instead it still only exists in an embryonic form to this day. The Coast Guard did however receive new small-arms and the ships armour was much improved already in the late 1940s and in the 1950s.

[Icelandic Coast Guard patrol boat. Considerable armour was put on the smaller wooden hulled vessels.]

Iceland's success in the Cod Wars in the 1950s and 1970s cemented popular support for the Coast Guard and blunted communist propaganda aimed at it. Not much was done in the form of improving its naval capabilities however since such defence activities were primarily to be performed by the US forces stationed in the country. Iceland would remain focused on internal security, counter-intelligence, military deception and defeating minor incursions. These activities fell mostly on the Police, its reserve force as well as the civil defence to a certain degree.

[Viking Squad members training in the 1980s.]

In the 1970s the threat of international terrorism became so prevalent that some defences had to be prepared. The well trained old guard that had served in the Police from the 1930s until the 1950s had retired by then and the two decades of US military presence had somewhat dulled the military training regime Icelandic policemen were subjected to. The response was to form a special unit which would be known as the Viking Squad (Víkingasveitin).

[Viking Squad soldier in olive green uniform.]

The early plans for the Viking Squad would consist of small groups of older and more experienced policemen, but later it was realized that their training and physical condition were substandard. It was decided to ask for Norwegian help and Lieutenant Arnór Sigurjónsson, an Icelander serving the Norwegian army, was tasked with overseeing the training of the first squadron of Viking Squad members. The founding date of this special force is considered to be in 1982 when this group finished their special force training school in Norway.

[Viking Squad assaulting a terrorist hideout.]

The group's main activities would be anti-terrorism and defence against Soviet spetsnaz raids in practice however they were to be mostly employed for minor gun related law-enforcement activities. For the most part the Viking Squad was armed with H&K MP5 sub-machine guns, shotguns and pistols such as Smith&Wesson .357, H&K P7 and Glock 9mm. It was also equipped with machine guns and at least one mortar in order to deal with more heavily armed Soviet troops.