Why doesn't Iceland have an army?

Magnús Jóhann Björnsson
18 Feb. 2020

Travellers researching an Iceland trip sometimes come across this question almost by accident, maybe while reading about the country's history, or wondering why Keflavik International Airport sits where it does. It's a fair thing to be curious about, and the short version has a few layers worth knowing before you land and pick up your rental car.

Short answer

Iceland doesn't maintain a standing army mainly because of its small population (around 390,000 people) and the cost of running a conventional military. So no, it has no army, navy, or air force, and has never maintained one since gaining independence. Instead, Iceland relies on the armed Icelandic Coast Guard, a small special police unit, and its membership in NATO, which it joined as a founding member in 1949, for defence and security.

Why doesn't Iceland have a military?

Iceland has never built a standing army mainly for two practical reasons: population size and cost. With a population smaller than many single cities elsewhere in Europe, Iceland simply doesn't have the manpower to staff a conventional army, navy, and air force, and funding one at any meaningful scale would divert a disproportionate share of national resources away from things like healthcare, infrastructure, and education.

There's also a strong cultural dimension. Icelanders generally take pride in being one of the few nations without a standing army, and there's long-standing public resistance even to arming the regular police force. This isn't framed as pacifism exactly, it's more a preference for staying out of military build-up altogether, a position that dates back to well before independence from Denmark in 1944.

That said, "no army" doesn't mean "no defence infrastructure." Iceland maintains a few specific organisations that handle security domestically, plus a defence relationship with NATO that fills the gap a conventional military would otherwise cover.

What handles security in Iceland instead of an army?

Iceland covers defence and security through four distinct bodies, none of which function as a traditional military. Here's how they compare:

The Icelandic Coast Guard is the closest thing Iceland has to a military branch. It operates ships and aircraft, monitors Icelandic airspace and waters, and works closely with NATO on air policing missions. The special forces unit, sometimes called the Viking Squad domestically, is small and specifically trained for situations regular police aren't equipped to handle, hostage situations, armed threats, and similar scenarios, which remain rare in Iceland.

Who defends Iceland if it doesn't have a military?

Iceland's defence is effectively outsourced through NATO membership. Iceland is not a member of the European Union, so the alliance, not Brussels, is the relevant framework. As a founding member of NATO since 1949, Iceland is covered by the alliance's collective defence principle, meaning other member states are obligated to come to its aid if it's attacked. This arrangement is part of why Iceland joined NATO in the first place, despite decades of prior neutrality.

The United States also had a direct bilateral defence relationship with Iceland for decades. From 1951 until 2006, the US military operated a Naval Air Station at Keflavik, in the same general area where Keflavik International Airport now stands. When you land in Iceland and start your self-drive trip, you're arriving at what used to be a military airbase, now a fully civilian international airport, and the starting point for most rental car pickups, including Blue Car Rental's Keflavik location.

Since the US base closed, air policing over Icelandic airspace has been handled on a rotating basis by other NATO allies, and Iceland continues to allow NATO to use its territory and facilities for training and exercises.

Is Iceland a silent member of NATO?

No, Iceland is an active member, even without contributing its own troops. Iceland doesn't send combat forces to NATO operations, but it does participate in the alliance in other ways: hosting exercises, allowing use of its airspace and facilities, and contributing personnel through the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit to peacekeeping missions abroad.

NATO membership hasn't been without domestic controversy. When the treaty was signed in the Icelandic parliament (Alþingi) in 1949, protests outside turned tense enough that police used tear gas, a rare event in Icelandic history. Opposition continued for decades afterward; between 1960 and 1991, protesters periodically walked the roughly 50 km route between Reykjavik and the Keflavik base to demonstrate against the foreign military presence. That stretch of road is one you'll likely drive yourself if you're picking up a car near Keflavik and heading into Reykjavik or beyond.

Even today, NATO membership remains a genuinely debated topic in Icelandic politics, and it's not unusual for a sitting government to include parties with historically anti-NATO positions.

What this means for your trip

For visitors planning a self-drive holiday, none of this has any practical bearing on safety or logistics, Iceland's lack of a standing army isn't a security concern for travellers, and the country's day-to-day is about as far from a military presence as you'll find anywhere in Europe. It's simply a piece of context that tends to surprise people once they start reading about the country ahead of a trip. What you will notice instead is the absence of anything military-looking on the roads: no checkpoints, no convoys, and a police presence that is light outside Reykjavik. The real risks on an Icelandic self-drive are weather, wind and gravel, which is why our guide to the road rules for travellers with a rental car is the more useful pre-trip read.