The U.S. Air Force has deployed F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter jets to Keflavik Air Base in Iceland also know as old Cold War base.
An F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft arrived at Keflavik Air Base, Iceland, on July 25, 2019. Over 100 Airmen and F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 480th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Wing, are in Iceland in support of NATO alliance commitments. Other NATO allies have also conducted this mission in the past, including France, Denmark, and Italy.
“Conducting missions with our NATO allies demonstrates our shared commitment to peace and better prepares us to respond to a range of potential security and humanitarian emergencies,” according to a statement released by the U.S. Air Force.
Throughout the Cold War, Iceland hosting a U.S. military presence in Keflavík Air Base from 1951 to 2006.
During the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, Keflavik hosted rotational E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from CONUS to support the air defense mission and rotational HC-130 Hercules aircraft from RAF Woodbridge from the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron to support their detachment of Keflavik-based HH-3 Jolly Green Giant and later HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters in their search and rescue mission.
Now the United States again began to actively use the base in Keflavik Air Base in Iceland. The U.S. government also is planning to expand runways and platforms of old Cold War base in Iceland so the base can handle heavy aircraft up to and including a C-5, according to a U.S. government’s main contracting website notice issued earlier this month.