JACO's main tasks is surveillance and enforcement of sovereignty and the military defence of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Other tasks include fishing vessel inspection, search & rescue, maritime pollution prevention, hydrographic surveys, and miscellaneous support to the civilian society.
As a territorial command it's area of responsibility extend from the Faroe Islands to the Greenland Sea and the Arctic Sea to the North, and across the Denmark Strait and the Irminger Sea to the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland.
It is headquartered in Nuuk, Greenland, with a Liaison Unit in Thorshavn on the Faroe Islands.
Alliance has a clear interest in seeing stability, security and cooperation in the Arctic region
MARCOM, with its role in maintaining a continuous maritime situational awareness and anticipation across the entire maritime domain of SACEUR’s area of responsibility, shares important interest and operational objectives with JACO.
The enhanced cooperation will include monthly coordination meetings, exchange of surveillance information, and participation in exercises, among other activities.
Joint Arctic Command Headquarters in Nuuk, Greenland. Photo: Danish Navy
The Commander of the Danish Joint Arctic Command visited NATO Maritime Headquarters in February, where both sides signed the agreement that officially comes into effect this month.
“We have reached a milestone when formally documenting the close working relationship at the operational level with MARCOM. I am very pleased with the arrangement. My staff is looking forward to working even closer with MARCOM,” said Major General Kim Jesper Jorgensen, Chief of Joint Arctic Command.
“Over the past years we have seen an increasing maritime interest in the Arctic region. I anticipate that MARCOM and JACO will greatly benefit from working together on an operational level under this new agreement. With five NATO Allies being Arctic countries - Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and the United States - the Alliance has a clear interest in seeing stability, security and cooperation in the Arctic region’, said Commander of MARCOM, Vice Admiral Keith Blount.