Next month, five Czech Gripen will be heading to Iceland for the airspace protection of the country. 70 Czech personnel will also be a part of this mission.
This is the second time that the Czech Air Force Gripen have been scheduled to provide air surveillance to Iceland. Last year during September and December, five Gripen were sent to Iceland, out of which four patrolled the country’s airspace while the fifth was kept on reserve.
Air surveillance requires diligent long-term planning by participating personnel at the Caslav Air Base. Participants may be required to conduct air defence flying training missions and provide the necessary degree of training of NATO and Icelandic support personnel, besides fulfilling their air surveillance duties.
Czech Gripen have provided air surveillance to the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania before. Like these Baltic States, Iceland too does not have its own Air Force and various NATO nations take turns to provide airspace protection.
