Update: Denmark, Germany, and Sweden to provide aircraft for NATO's inaugural ‘Arctic Sentry' mission in Greenland

A file photo of a Luftwaffe Eurofighter in an air-to-air configuration. Germany is to send four such aircraft to cover Greenland as part of its contribution to NATO's inaugural ‘Arctic Sentry' mission. (Bundeswehr)

Denmark, Germany, and Sweden are to provide combat aircraft to NATO's inaugural ‘Arctic Sentry' mission in Greenland, deploying Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, Luftwaffe Eurofighter EF-2000, and Saab JAS Gripen C fighters to protect the island respectively.

NATO Allied Command Operations (AOC) disclosed the participation of four Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) F-35As in the new mission on 13 February. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in separate announcements confirmed their respective countries' involvement on 12 February. The previous day, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had set out plans for the new alliance mission ahead of a meeting of allied defence ministers in Brussels.

In its announcement, AOC disclosed that the air policing component of ‘Arctic Sentry' will be flown out of Keflavík Air Base as part of the alliance's Icelandic Airborne Surveillance and Interception Capabilities to meet Iceland's Peacetime Preparedness Needs (ASIC IPPN) mission. The three countries' combat aircraft will be supported out of Iceland by a NATO Airbus KC-30M Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft.

“The High North is of particular importance. It connects the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic, and the Atlantic Ocean, and is therefore essential for supply routes between North America and Europe. This is of central importance,” Pistorius said. German national media announced the deployment of four Eurofighters with the likely support of an Airbus A400M transport aircraft shortly after the minister's statement.