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With no air force of its own, for the next five weeks the only thing guarding Iceland from air invasion will be a sextet of Canadian fighter planes.

In mid-March, six CF-18s and more than 160 Canadian Forces personnel bunked down at a Cold War-era base just outside Reykjavik to kick off Operation Ignition, a periodic mission in which Canada takes its turn defending the island nation, which is the only NATO member without a single soldier or pilot on the payroll.

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Canadians will monitor radar, escort “unauthorized” aircraft out of Icelandic airspace and practice scrambling jets to “intercept and identify unknown airborne objects,” according to a statement by the Department of National Defense.

True to the operation’s official name as a “peacetime preparedness mission,” the jets will mostly be unarmed.

“Basically, it’s a presence patrol; they’re providing surveillance and interception capabilities,” said Captain Cynthia Kent, spokeswoman for Canadian Joint Operations Command.