A Royal Air Force (RAF) Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft delivered US Marines, UK Royal Marines and two Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) to Jan Mayen on August 29, 2026, placing ground forces on a Norwegian island north of the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap.
The aircraft, operated by LXX Squadron from RAF Brize Norton, offloaded the troops and vehicles during Operation Atlantic City 26.
The operation runs from August 26 to September 4, 2026, and is a Norwegian-led trilateral activity with the United Kingdom and the United States under Arctic Sentry, NATO’s enhanced vigilance activity for the High North.
“The trilateral operation will integrate multinational sensors, command-and-control nodes, and precision fires into a unified, joint kill web,” the US Marine Corps said in a statement.
An island with a runway and no harbor
Jan Mayen lies approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from mainland Norway and has no port, only offshore anchorages. Its single unpaved runway is therefore the only practical way to deliver vehicles directly to the island, making aircraft cleared for semi-prepared surfaces essential to deploying heavy equipment there.
Jan Mayensfield (ENJA) is a gravel strip suitable for tactical transport operations, while the neighboring Beerenberg volcano can generate Kármán winds that complicate approaches.
From one military vehicle to a rocket-artillery platoon
This was not the A400M’s first landing on Jan Mayen. An RAF Atlas reached the island during the 2025 iteration of Operation Atlantic City, carrying a single JLTV drawn from pre-positioned stocks in Norway.
For the 2026 iteration, the Marine Corps said precision fires would be provided by a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) platoon from the 3-197th Field Artillery Regiment, New Hampshire Army National Guard. Rapid insertion would be conducted using a US Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130 and a US Air Forces Europe C-130.