Icelandic Coast Guard

The Icelandic Coast Guard (, "Landhelgisgæslan" or simply "Gæslan") is the service responsible for Iceland's coastal defence and maritime and aeronautical search and rescue. Its origins can be traced to 1859, when the corvette "Ørnen" started patrolling Icelandic waters. In 1906, Iceland's first purposely built guard-ship, "Islands Falk", began operation. Iceland's own defense of its territorial waters began around 1920 and the Icelandic Coast Guard was formally founded on 1 July 1926. The first cannon was put on the trawler "Þór" in 1924 and on 23 June 1926 the first ship built for the Coast Guard, named "Óðinn", arrived in Iceland. Three years later, on 14 July 1929 the coastal defence ship "Ægir" was added to the Coast Guard fleet.
The Icelandic Coast Guard played its largest role during the Cod Wars between 1972 and 1975, when the Coast Guard ships would cut the trawl wires of British and West German trawlers and engaged in confrontations with Royal Navy warships and tugs from the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), in order to enforce a disputed expansion of Iceland's exclusive economic zone.
The Coast Guard also maintains the Iceland Air Defence System which conducts ground surveillance of Iceland's air space.
The Icelandic Coast Guard is responsible for hydrographic surveying and nautical charting.
Operations.
The Icelandic Coast Guard's (ICG) primary mission is the defending the Icelandic sovereignty, integrity of the territorial waters, maintaining Icelandic law and order inside the -wide economic zone as well as other vital missions such as Search and Rescue. The Coast Guard operates JRCC-Iceland which is responsible for search and rescue of vessels and aircraft in Iceland's search and rescue region (SRR) according to International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual. Additionally the ICG is in the charge of defusing naval mines, most of which were laid during the Second World War, and monitoring fisheries in international waters outside of the Icelandic economic zone in order to blacklist any vessel partaking in unregulated fishing and thus bar them from receiving services from any member of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission in order to make unregulated fishing unprofitable. The Icelandic Coast Guard also occasionally operates within Greenlandic and Faeroese waters, following a bilateral agreement with Denmark regarding mutual aid in security, rescue and defence matters.
The Coast Guard accomplishes these tasks with the use of offshore patrol vessels (OPV), helicopters, surveillance aircraft, satellites and a network of land based surface scanning radar.
The Icelandic Coast Guard is also in charge of the Iceland Air Defence System, which operates four ground-based AN-FPS(V)5 air surveillance radars and a control and command centre.
In the 1990s the Coast Guard started hosting exercises such as "Northern Challenge" which had military units from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom, among others, participating along with the Icelandic Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has also taken part in peacekeeping operations on behalf of the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit, although while usually using their own rank insignia, uniforms and weapons.
The fleet also takes part in Frontex operations, and in that role played a major part in the rescue of over 300 Syrian refugees in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in January 2015.
Fleet.
Currently the Icelandic Coast Guard fleet consists of three OPVs, one coastal hydrographic and patrol vessel and an independent fast rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), as well as numerous smaller boats assigned to the larger units. In 2011 the Coast Guard received , built by the Asmar shipyard in Talcahuano, Chile.
ICGV "Týr", an , the second youngest, built by Århus Flydedok a/s and launched in 1975. , lead ship of the "Ægir" class, is ICGV "Týr"s sister ship, built by Ålborg Værft a/s and launched in 1968. Each ship is equipped with two or more RHIBs of various sizes and armed with a 40 mm Bofors cannon. Various kinds of small arms as well as other man-portable weapons are also carried on board each of the ships. "Týr" and "Þór" are also equipped with sonar systems and the "Ægir"-class vessels have flight decks and a hangar for a small helicopter. While the Coast Guard currently doesn't operate small enough helicopters to use the hangars, the flight decks are often used by the helicopters of the Aeronautical Division on various missions.
The coastguard has as well a 73-ton patrol and hydrographic survey vessel, named "Baldur", built by Vélsmiðja Seyðisfjarðar shipyard in 1991. This vessel has no mounted weaponry but it has nonetheless been used for port security and fishery inspection.
Aeronautical division.
The Coast Guard's Aeronautical Division was founded on 10 December 1955 when a Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina flying boat was acquired. It was originally from the Iceland Defense Force but was damaged near Langanes in 1954. It was registered as TF-RAN and nicknamed Rán.
Until 2019, the Icelandic Coast Guard operated three Aerospatiale AS-332L1 Super Puma helicopters, which were registered as TF-LIF, TF-SYN and TF-GNA. As a response to the withdrawal of the Iceland Defense Force in 2006, the Coast Guard operated four helicopters, including a leased Aérospatiale SA-365N-1 Dauphin 2 TF-EIR, but this number was reduced to the three Super Pumas as of 2015. In 2019 the Icelandic Coast Guard received two Airbus Helicopters H225 helicopters, leased from Norwegian company Knut Axel Ugland Holding AS, to replace the three AS332L1 Super Pumas until permanent replacement helicopters are purchased in 2022.
The Coast Guard also operates a single Bombardier DHC-8-Q314, registered as TF-SIF, modified for maritime surveillance and reconnaissance. This plane has been extensively modified by FIELD to carry a modern Mission Management System and suite of surveillance sensors, air operable door and communications/navigation equipment. It is occasionally also used for surveillance of volcanic eruptions, such as the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.
Unlike the fleet, aircraft of the Icelandic Coast Guard have standard Icelandic civilian registers, as the Althing (parliament) has never agreed on laws for military or government aircraft. Over the time since the division was formed the regulations for standard civilian aircraft have become more restrictive. As a result, the Coast Guard can no longer operate military aircraft like it did in the past. Nevertheless, current helicopters are outfitted with the latest generation U.S. night vision equipment, reserved for U.S. armed forces and the armies of their allies and thus the only civilian registered aircraft in the world, so equipped.
Ships and aircraft.
All major vehicles of the Icelandic Coast Guard are currently named after beings from Norse mythology.
Decommissioned vessels.
In addition the Coast Guard has rented or borrowed a number of civilian vessels and aircraft for shorter periods, which are not listed.
Radars.
The Iceland Air Defense System monitors Iceland's airspace. Air Defense is provided by fighter jets from NATO allies, which rotate units for the Icelandic Air Policing mission to Keflavik Air Base.
The Iceland Air Defense System's Control and Reporting Centre is at Keflavik Air Base and reports to NATO's Integrated Air Defense System CAOC Uedem in Germany.
Weaponry.
The Icelandic Coast Guard possesses 207 firearms, 111 of which are in storage.