Joint Expeditionary Force

The Joint Expeditionary Force ( JEF) is a United Kingdom-led Northern European multi-national military partnership designed for rapid response and expeditionary operations. It consists of the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden), the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the Netherlands. The UK is the lead nation of the partnership, and operational command is led by the Standing Joint Force Headquarters based at Northwood Headquarters, Hertfordshire.

The JEF was established in 2014, and it has been fully operational since June 2018. It is not part of NATO, but all of its members are also NATO member states. 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.

History Formation (2012–2018) In 2012, the UK chief of the defence staff General Sir David Richards announced the JEF.Speech Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 17 December 2012 It was initially conceived as a UK-only formation, a successor to the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF), which was established in 1999 but was disbanded due to insufficient resources as a result of the UK's focus on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On 5 September 2014, the multinational JEF was officially launched with a letter of intent, signed by Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Norway, with the intent to be fully operational by 2018. It was launched as a NATO initiative at the September 2014 Wales Summit, subsumed under the new "Framework Nations Concept" rubric. Under the rubric, Germany, the UK and Italy were to act as 'framework nations' for groups of NATO allies working together for the joint development of forces and capabilities required by NATO. The UK element of the JEF consists of personnel and equipment from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force. It was designed to provide greater levels of integration than previously achieved, especially when combined with other countries' armed forces.

Sweden, which was not a NATO member state until 2023, did not sign the initial letter of intent. In early October 2015 Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist explained that, although he did not rule out Sweden joining the JEF, no formal process exists that would allow them to join JEF. He was summoned by the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, to confirm whether the Swedish government was engaged in formal talks to join the JEF without the knowledge of the parliament.

On 30 November 2015, seven countries (UK, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Norway) signed the contract to establish the JEF at Lancaster House in London.

On 22 June 2017 the Swedish government confirmed that Sweden would join the JEF. On 30 June 2017, Finland also joined the JEF.

On 28 June 2018, a comprehensive memorandum of understanding was signed amongst nine partner countries. On that date, capability existed to deploy over 10,000 personnel.

On 20 April 2021, Ben Wallace, the UK Secretary of State for Defence, and Sturla Sigurjónsson, the Icelandic Ambassador to the United Kingdom, signed a 'Note of Joining', leading Iceland to become the 10th member of the JEF.

Since Russian invasion of Ukraine In February 2022, the foreign ministers of the 10 JEF countries announced military drills (ground, air and navy) in northern Europe.

In March 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a meeting of the heads of government of the JEF, where he said "everything will be directed against Europe if Ukraine does not survive. Therefore, I ask you: help yourself by helping us."

On 28 November 2023, it was announced that the UK's contribution to the JEF, the Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime), would deploy to patrol the Baltic Sea. Sweden announced that it would participate with two Visby-class corvettes.

In March 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney participated in a virtual meeting, followed by the formal application announcement in September.

In September 2026, Finnish media reported that UK offered its nuclear umbrella to the JEF members.

Requirements The aim of the JEF is to create a UK military framework for partners to join. It is developed around the UK's existing high readiness capabilities. At the signing of the JEF agreement, the UK Government stated its intention to fully integrate the JEF partners' contributions before 2018, but that the JEF would be able to deploy immediately if required.

In a 2012 speech, then–Chief of Defence Staff David Richards stated that the JEF is designed to: act jointly and with allies, but able to act alone be well equipped, but not tied to platforms adapt as the environment changes

Capabilities The JEF is intended as a pool of high readiness, adaptable forces that is designed to enhance the UK's ability to respond rapidly, anywhere in the world, with like-minded allies, or on behalf of international organisations such as the UN or NATO. The UK's contribution will include the lead commando, airborne, armoured, aviation, air and maritime task groups.

Speaking before the Royal United Services Institute in 2012, CDS General Sir David Richards outlined the specific applications that the capabilities of the Joint Expeditionary Force will allow.

International partners Together with the British Armed Forces, the following nine states may form part of the JEF as required.

Denmark – Danish Defence Estonia – Estonian Defence Forces Finland – Finnish Defence Forces Iceland – Icelandic Coast Guard Latvia – Latvian National Armed Forces Lithuania – Lithuanian Armed Forces Netherlands – Netherlands Armed Forces Norway – Norwegian Armed Forces Sweden – Swedish Armed Forces

Summits + JEF Summits# Year Dates Country City Leaders Ref. Image1 2022 25 February Virtual meeting 2 14–15 March London 3 19 December Riga 4 2023 12–13 October Visby 5 2024 16–17 December Tallinn 6 2025 8–9 May Oslo 7 2026 26 March Helsinki 8 2027 Reykjavík

Joint Expeditionary Force

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