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The
Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) is a
United Kingdom-led
Northern European multi-national military partnership designed for
rapid response and
expeditionary operations. In addition to the United Kingdom, which initiated the establishment of the force in 2012, it consists of the
Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), the
Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the
Netherlands.
The
United Kingdom element of the JEF consists of personnel and equipment from the
Royal Navy,
Royal Marines,
British Army and
Royal Air Force and is designed to provide
greater levels of integration than previously achieved especially when combined with other country's armed forces.
Together with the
British Armed Forces, the following nine states may form part of the JEF as required.
The JEF has been fully operational since June 2018. It
can act independently in its own right, but it
can also be deployed in support of NATO or other cooperative ventures, for example as part of a
United Nations peacekeeping force. All of its ten member states are also members of NATO, with Finland's and Sweden's applications ratified in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
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To put this into context. This is a
British Project. The purpose of this project is to prepare Britain and the countries it would be helping to defend for a European War. The countries involved are the ones that would participate on the
Baltic Axis and the
North Atlantic Axis. These are the directions of British contributions. The UK wants to cooperate with and acclimatize to all allies and potential allies in these directions. Hence
Sweden and Finland joining in 2017. What Britain gets out of this is good military relations with many smaller countries that it would have to deploy to in times of war. Experience cooperating with those countries. Influence over defence decisions so that collaboration is as easy as possible; e.g. equipment purchases, organizational structure, availability ot tea kettles in all vehicles, stuff like that.
This also makes it easier for Britain to integrate units from these countries into it's own forces. e.g. Frigates as Carrier escorts, squadrons as part of RAF wings, battalions as part of British led brigades etc. If say, Sweden, wished to participate in a future Iraq War style conflict they could simply send a battallion as part of a British brigade with no special need for training and integration, that work already having been done. This increases British infuence in general.
What the other participants get out of it. The Netherlands gets to contribute as if it were Britain writ small. The other members are ones that would need NATO, specifically British and Dutch resources to help defend themselves. With all of this being prepared and practiced small countries like Estonia or Latvia are free to make consequential decisions like to not have an air force or corvettes since allies they already are integrated with provide those services. This is uniquely valuable to a small country that couldn't afford more than one ship leaving it at risk of having the ship in repair dock when it was needed at sea; same for expensive aircraft and the even more expensive pilots.
This is also a good framework for the Iceland Defence Force since all of the common contributing members (UK, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway) are in this partnership. This also enables Iceland, which doesn't have a military, to contribute since every military deployment needs medical and logistical services Iceland can provide.
