US missile defense system to start operating in northern Poland in mid-December

US missile defense system to start operating in northern Poland in mid-December

Kyiv  •  UNN

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The U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Redzikowo, Poland, will be operational on December 15 as part of NATO's efforts to protect Europe from missile threats.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed in the Sejm that the US base of the European missile defense system Aegis Ashore, located in Redzikowo, will be officially commissioned on December 15. This was reported by UNN with reference to RMF FM.

The Americans have provided us with information that the missile shield will reach operational capability on December 15

, Mateusz Morawiecki said.

Prime Minister Morawiecki also reminded that there are more than 10,000 American troops in Poland. troops in Poland, and noted that the Polish army should grow in in strength. 

Our military spending already amounts to about 4 percent of GDP. It follows that if we subtract our budget deficit from this, it will be less than 1 percent, just over zero. This is one of the lowest deficits, if not the lowest in the EU, if you subtract military spending

- said the head of the Polish government.

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Background

Redzikowo base will become the second ground-based missile defense facility in Europe missile defense in Europe and is expected to mark the completion of the the last phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), NATO's missile defense program. EPAA is designed to protect continent from short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Iran.

In addition to the base in Poland, EPAA includes another coastal Aegis system in Deveselu, Romania, as well as an early warning radar in Kurecik, Turkey, and a command center in Ramstein, Germany.

In addition, the naval version of the Aegis system is installed on US Navy destroyers stationed at the Rota base in Spain.

The installation in Redzikowo, consisting of the AN/SPY-1 radar, Mk 41 VLS launcher and SM-3 (Standard Missile-3), is the last unfinished element of the system. The EPAA replaced the original plans of the George W. Bush administration, which envisaged the deployment of a ground-based Poland to deploy the Ground-based Intermediate-Range Defense (GMD) system, a system designed to intercept intercontinental to intercept intercontinental missiles in their midcourse (i.e. into space), elements of which exist at bases in California and Alaska. The second land-based element of the shield, a base in the Romanian city of Deveselu, has been operating since 2016.

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