{"id":12670,"date":"2026-08-21T13:25:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/?p=12670"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:25:30","slug":"belgium-takes-over-nato-air-defense-mission-in-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/belgium-takes-over-nato-air-defense-mission-in-iceland-21082026\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium Takes Over NATO Air Defense Mission in Iceland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) informed that Belgium formally assumed responsibility for the defense and surveillance of Iceland\u2019s airspace as part of the \u201cArctic Sentry,\u201d an operation launched following U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to annex Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>RELATED:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.telesurenglish.net\/pm-nielsen-tells-trump-greenland-is-not-for-sale\/\">PM Nielsen Tells Trump \u2018Greenland Is Not for Sale\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Belgian fighter jets took over at Keflavik Air Base on the outskirts of Reykjavik through a detachment that includes personnel deployed on the ground and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The objective of the detachment, which arrived in Iceland Aug. 7 and will remain there for one month, is to conduct enhanced surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBelgian F-16s have landed in Iceland once again to help protect NATO airspace,\u201d said Glenn Hanssen, commander of the Belgian air defense detachment in Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHaving the Belgian Air Force assume this vital mission in Iceland represents a significant step toward a single and integrated air and missile defense posture,\u201d said German Gen. Frank Gr\u00e4fe, chief of staff of NATO\u2019s Allied Air Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gr\u00e4fe also mentioned that the Allied Air Command continues to strengthen NATO\u2019s air defense umbrella through a \u201cmultilayered and 360-degree approach, encompassing resources and capabilities across all operational domains, in order to address emerging and future threats, whether manned or unmanned, aircraft or other systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mission precedes the deployment of 30 Belgian military personnel to Greenland from Sept. 4 to 18, with a dual objective: deterrence and training. Among other activities, they will conduct drone flights and test counter-drone defense systems. Belgium will carry out the operation alongside Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weeks ago, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken explained that NATO seeks through these measures to send a clear message to Trump, demonstrating that it is \u201ccapable of guaranteeing the protection of the Arctic by itself,\u201d particularly Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>teleSUR\/ JF<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Source: EFE<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: teleSUR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Friday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) informed that Belgium formally assumed responsibility for the defense and surveillance of Iceland&rsquo;s airspace as part of the &ldquo;Arctic Sentry,&rdquo; an operation&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[8],"class_list":["post-12670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"authors":[{"term_id":8,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"yolaunicaquehay","display_name":"RRebeldeAdminWP","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e6145d63ff95c9a0f0e53b7149804b1faf86748d6cc15f466103269a288ea377?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english","last_name":"Radio Rebelde","first_name":"WebMaster","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12672,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12670\/revisions\/12672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12670"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=12670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}