It was in existence from 1962 to 2002 and consisted of the Danish Armed Forces, units of the West German Bundeswehr and allied wartime reinforcements.

Until 1990, the western Allies were responsible for air defence over the whole Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of the occupation statute.

The Second Allied Tactical Air Force (2 ATAF) was responsible for the area of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, and was led by a British officer from RAF Germany, with headquarters in Mönchengladbach.

[1] BALTAP was led by a Danish officer with the rank of a Lieutenant General or a Vice Admiral, who had the designation Commander Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (COMBALTAP).

From 1962 to 1993, COMBALTAP was under the NATO command Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) in Kolsås outside Oslo in Norway.

In addition, external reinforcements from the United States and Britain (UK Mobile Force, primarily 1st Infantry Brigade) were planned.

Holding Jutland was crucial for the mission of NAVBALTAP to keep the Danish straits blocked and thus prevent the Soviet Baltic Fleet from breaking out into the North Sea.

In case the Jutland peninsula would fall into Soviet hands, the LANDZEALAND units defending the Danish Isles would have been dangerously flanked.

Therefore, LANDJUT was to be reinforced at the earliest with British and American troops to ensure that advancing Soviet forces would be prevented from crossing the Kiel Canal and Eider river.

[2] British infantry battalions and armoured regiments rotated every two years or so; thus locations are shown, but no unit identities.

Except for the Royal Guard Company and the Mounted Hussar Squadron, which were made up of conscripts, all territorial units were part of the reserve: Allied Air Forces Baltic Approaches (AIRBALTAP) was a NATO military formation under Allied Forces Baltic Approaches tasked with providing air support in the BALTAP area of operations.

AIRBALTAP was formed in 1962 with its area of responsibility covering Germany north of the river Elbe and Denmark with the surrounding seas; however air defence for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein was the responsibility of Second Allied Tactical Air Force The peacetime headquarters of AIRBALTAP were at Karup in Denmark.

To fulfill its mission NAVBALTAP commanded the entire German as well as the ships of the Royal Danish Navy based in Denmark.

The first would have been used to mine all sealanes and potential landings beaches, while the latter would have harassed the enemy fleet with continuous hit and run attacks.

Additionally the Danish navy fielded RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles mounted on Scania trucks as mobile coastal artillery.