Britain Leads Major Joint Expeditionary Force Exercise as Defence Ministers Meet in Iceland

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Royal Marines of 45 Commando coming ashore from landing craft during an amphibious exercise in Norway.
A Royal Marine of Zulu Company, 45 Commando during an amphibious landing from landing craft in Norway. File photo: LA(Phot) Nick Tryon / MOD. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.

Britain is leading its largest Joint Expeditionary Force exercise of the year as defence ministers from ten allied nations gather in Iceland, with Royal Marines carrying out the first British military exercise on the Faroe Islands since the Second World War.

Key facts

  • Exercise Lion Protector 26 has seen hundreds of British personnel train with nine allied nations across the North Atlantic, the High North and the Baltic Sea.
  • Royal Marines from the UK's Special Operations Maritime Task Group trained on the Faroe Islands alongside Danish forces, the first exercise there since the war years.
  • Defence Secretary Wes Streeting is meeting his JEF counterparts in Keflavik, Iceland, with Canadian and Ukrainian ministers also attending.
  • Ministers are discussing Canada's application to join the JEF, cooperation on countering hybrid threats, and support for Ukraine.
  • The training focused on protecting critical national infrastructure, including the undersea data cables and energy networks that connect Britain to the world.
  • The UK's Standing Joint Force Headquarters coordinated activity across the region, deploying north of the Arctic Circle in Norway.

What has happened

Lion Protector 26 launched in August with a rehearsal of a multi-national maritime escort operation stretching the length of the Baltic Sea. Warships and aircraft from Denmark, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom escorted a Danish vessel carrying military equipment to Latvia, testing how quickly the force could coordinate across sea, land, air, cyber and space.

The exercise then spread across the North Atlantic and the High North. The Ministry of Defence says the aim was to protect critical national infrastructure, strengthen joint command and control, and counter emerging threats, all framed explicitly as a response to Russian hybrid threats.

The standout moment for British forces came on the Faroe Islands. Royal Marines from the Special Operations Maritime Task Group carried out maritime interdictions, amphibious landings and vertical ascent training alongside Danish forces. The Faroes hosted a key Royal Marines deployment during the Second World War, and the MoD describes this as the first exercise on the islands since that conflict.

The ministerial summit in Iceland

As the exercise wrapped up, the defence ministers of the JEF nations met in Keflavik for their summit, with Wes Streeting representing Britain. Finland's defence ministry confirmed the meeting would take place over 1 to 2 October and called it the first in-person meeting of JEF defence ministers this year. Canada's defence department confirmed its minister, David McGuinty, would attend.

Three items sat at the top of the agenda: progress on Canada's application to join the JEF framework, deeper cooperation on countering hybrid threats, and support to Ukraine through the JEF-Ukraine Enhanced Partnership. Ministers also discussed further industrial collaboration between the ten nations.

Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen, who met Streeting in the margins of the summit, said: "We have a very important meeting ahead of us. A group of close allies will be planning how to strengthen the defence and security of Northern Europe. The security situation in Europe, JEF support to Ukraine and Euro-Atlantic cooperation will be among our topics."

What the officials said

Wes Streeting said: "The North Atlantic, High North, and Baltic are the frontline of the UK's security, which is why British leadership of the Joint Expeditionary Force is so vital to our defence."

"From conducting amphibious landings on the Faroe Islands, to deploying a standing headquarters north of the Arctic Circle, our recent JEF exercises have shown how Britain is working with our allies to enhance NATO's defence of the region in the face of rising Russian threats."

"I was also delighted that we welcomed our Canadian and Ukrainian counterparts to the summit as JEF seeks to expand its cooperation with these crucial allies."

What is the Joint Expeditionary Force

The JEF is a UK-led coalition of ten like-minded nations: Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. It fields high-readiness forces configured to respond rapidly to crises in support of NATO security, focused on the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic, the Arctic and the High North.

The coalition was set up precisely so northern European states could act quickly, with British command structures, before or alongside the slower machinery of full NATO mobilisation. Today's summit builds on the JEF leaders' summit in Helsinki in March, where leaders agreed to reinforce support to Ukraine through what they call the JEF-Ukraine Enhanced Partnership.

The MoD also links the exercise to the Prime Minister's discussions this week with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Støre about the hybrid threat posed by Russia.

Why it matters

Analysis: Lion Protector 26 is best read as two exercises in one. The first is military: rehearsing how ten nations move together, command together and protect the cables and pipelines Britain depends on. The second is political: putting ministers in a room in Iceland at a moment when the High North is becoming crowded and contested.

The Faroe Islands detail is the one that will stick. A British amphibious landing exercise on the Faroes, the first in more than 80 years, is a deliberate piece of signalling. It tells allies and adversaries alike that Britain is willing to put boots on remote ground in the North Atlantic, and to do it with Danish partners.

Canada's possible membership is the other story to watch. The JEF was designed as a compact, high-trust club. Adding Canada, a G7 nation with deep Arctic interests, would change its weight and its reach. Finnish officials are already talking about overwhelming support for the application.

What is not yet known

The MoD has not published the full order of battle for Lion Protector 26, so the exact British units involved beyond the Royal Marines contingent, the Standing Joint Force Headquarters and elements of the warship and aircraft escort force, remain unclear. No communique from the Keflavik summit has yet been published, so it is not confirmed whether ministers took formal decisions on Canada's application or on new hybrid-threat measures. The scale and timing of any next JEF exercise have not been announced either.

What happens next

Attention moves to Oslo in November, where the Atlantic Future Forum and the International Sea Power Conference will bring the same crowd of naval leaders and policymakers together again. The MoD says the exercise and summit demonstrate Britain's leadership of northern European security, and further announcements on JEF cooperation, including the Canadian question, are expected in the coming months.

Conclusion

With Russian hybrid threats rising and the Arctic attracting growing military attention, Lion Protector 26 is Britain showing how the Joint Expeditionary Force is supposed to work: ten nations training together across a vast maritime theatre, ministers meeting in person, and a new partner waiting at the door. The Royal Marines landing on the Faroes gave the exercise its most striking image. The real test is whether the summit in Keflavik converts that activity into lasting cooperation.

Related

Sources

  • Ministry of Defence, "UK leads major Joint Expeditionary Force Exercise as defence ministers meet in Iceland", GOV.UK, 2 October 2026
  • Finnish Government, "Minister of Defence Häkkänen to attend JEF defence ministers' meeting in Iceland", 1 October 2026
  • Government of Canada, "Minister McGuinty to attend Joint Expeditionary Force Defence Ministers' Meeting in Iceland", 29 September 2026

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