The United States missile defense complex in Poland, also called the European Interceptor Site (EIS), was a planned (but never built)
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
missile defense base. It was intended to contain 10
silo-based interceptors: two-stage versions of the existing three-stage Ground-Based Interceptors with
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) is the Raytheon-manufactured interceptor component with subcontractor Aerojet of the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), part of the larger National Missile Defense system.
The EKV is boosted to an i ...
s that had a closing speed of about 7 km/s. The first planned complex was to be located near
Redzikowo,
Poland, forming a
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system in conjunction with a U.S. narrow-beam midcourse tracking and discrimination radar system located in
Brdy
Brdy is a range of hills in the Czech Republic, forming a long massif stretching for c. 60 km southwest from Prague. The northern section of the Brdy is called "Hřebeny" and features one narrow ridge (highest elevation Písek - 690 m). The m ...
,
Czech Republic. EIS was cancelled in 2009 and subsequently replaced with a phased plan—the
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediate-r ...
, which will include
SM-3
The RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) is a ship-based surface-to-air missile system used by the United States Navy to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles as a part of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Although primar ...
Block IIA interceptors to be positioned in Poland from 2018.
Development
According to the United States government, the missile defense system was intended to protect against future missiles from
Iran.
Russia strongly opposed the system. As an alternative, Russia proposed sharing the
Qabala Radar
Gabala Radar Station (; ) in some sources Gabala is spelled ''Qabala'', other names are Lyaki, Mingacevir and Mingechaur was a Daryal-type ( NATO Pechora) bistatic Passive electronically scanned array early warning radar, built by the Soviet ...
in
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
, which Russia leases, but this was not seen as an acceptable substitute by the US.
While the Polish and
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech ...
governments were in favor of the project, the missile shield received opposition from some groups within Poland and the Czech Republic. Opposition activity included protests and a relay
hunger strike by two Czech activists in May 2008, which lasted for 300 days.
On September 17, 2009, the Obama administration announced that plans for the project had been scrapped.
In October 2009—during a trip by Vice President
Joe Biden to Warsaw—a new, smaller interceptor project to go forward on roughly the same schedule as the Bush administration plan, was proposed; and it was welcomed by Prime Minister
Donald Tusk.
["Poland Agrees to Accept U.S. Missile Interceptors"](_blank)
by Peter Baker, ''The New York Times'', October 21, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
History
Since 2002, the U.S. had been in talks with Poland and other European countries over the possibility of setting up a European base to intercept long-range missiles. According to U.S. officials, a site similar to the American base in Alaska would help protect the US and Europe from missiles fired from the Middle East or North Africa. The
Ustka
Ustka (pronounced ; csb, Ùskô; german: Stolpmünde) is a spa town in the Middle Pomerania region of northern Poland with 17,100 inhabitants (2001). It is part of Słupsk County in Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located on the Slovincian Coast ...
-
Wicko base of the Polish Army (at ) was initially mentioned as a possible site of US missile interceptors. Poland's Prime Minister
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (; born 20 December 1959) is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 31 October 2005 to 14 July 2006. He was a member of the Law and Justice party (''Prawo i Sprawiedliwość'', PiS).
...
said in November 2005 he wanted to open up the public debate on whether Poland should host such a base.
In February 2007, the United States started formal negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic concerning construction of missile shield installations in those countries for a Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System. However, in April 2007 the ''Washington Post'' reported that 57% of
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Cen ...
opposed the plan.
Russia threatened to place short-range
nuclear missiles
Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task.
''Strategic'' nuclear weapons are used primari ...
on its borders with
NATO, if the United States went ahead with plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. In April 2007, then-President Putin warned of a new
Cold War if the Americans deployed the shield in Central Europe. Putin also said that Russia was prepared to abandon its obligations under the
Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 with the United States.
On July 4, 2008, Poland did not agree on the conditions set forth by the United States regarding the installation of anti-ballistic missiles on its territory.
On July 8, 2008, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that if the missile defense system was approved, "we will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods."
On August 14, 2008, shortly after the
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...
, the United States and Poland announced a deal to implement the missile defense system on Polish territory, with a tracking system placed in the Czech Republic. The Russians responded by saying such action "cannot go unpunished." Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's
NATO envoy, said, "The fact that this was signed in a period of a very difficult crisis in the relations between Russia and the United States over the
situation in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
shows that, of course, the missile defense system will be deployed not against
Iran but against the strategic potential of Russia."
A high-ranking Russian military officer warned Poland that it was exposing itself to attack by accepting a U.S. missile interceptor base on its soil. The deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces Gen.
Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that, "by deploying (the system), it is exposing itself to a strike—100 percent".
On August 20, 2008, the "Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Poland Concerning the Deployment of Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense Interceptors in the Territory of the Republic of Poland" was signed in Warsaw by US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Poland’s Foreign Minister
Radoslaw Sikorski.
On November 5, 2008, in his first
State of the Nation speech,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
stated, "From what we have seen in recent years—the creation of a missile defense system, the encirclement of Russia with military bases, the relentless expansion of NATO—we have gotten the clear impression that they are testing our strength." Russia would deploy short-range
Iskander missiles to Russia's western enclave of
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
, sandwiched between Poland and
Lithuania "to neutralize, if necessary, a missile defense system."
On November 8, an aide to U.S.
President-Elect Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
denied a claim made by
Polish President Lech Kaczyński's office, that a pledge had been made to go ahead with the missile defense system during a phone conversation between the two men. "His
bama'sposition is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable," the aide said, but "no commitment" has been made.
On November 14,
French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
Nicolas Sarkozy stated that plans for a U.S. missile shield in Central Europe were misguided, and wouldn't make the continent a safer place. "Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward," he said at a summit. He also warned Russian President Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles in Kaliningrad in response to the planned U.S. missile defense system.
On April 5, 2009, President Obama, during a speech in Prague, declared: "As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven." President Obama continued to express conditional support for the program and sought to isolate it from U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control talks.
On September 17, 2009, The
White House issued a statement saying that the US "no longer planned to move forward" with the project. According to President Obama, new intelligence had shown Iran was pursuing short-range and medium-range missile development, rather than long-range, necessitating a shift in strategy.
[Spiegel reviews analysis of President Obama's decision to scrap the missile defense system in Poland](_blank)
''Spiegel
Spiegel is German, Yiddish, and Dutch for "mirror". More specifically, it may refer to:
Publications
* ''Der Spiegel'', a weekly German magazine
* Der Spiegel (online), the online sibling of ''Der Spiegel''
Political
* Spiegel scandal, a 1962 ...
''. Retrieved on 09-17-09 The outlines of a reformulated, scaled-down project began to emerge in October, 2009.
After the project cancellation, Vice President
Joe Biden visited Poland in 2009 to "mend relations" by announcing the SM-3 deployment plan (see below for details of the new plan). Polish sources complained that the new plan no longer gave Poland an exclusive role (because an SM-3 site was also planned for
Romania).
In 2010 cables leaked by
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
showed that Polish diplomats felt more threatened by Russia than by Iran. The (leaked) responses from the Pentagon show that
Alexander Vershbow
Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow (born July 3, 1952) is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
From October 2005 to October 2008, he was the United States Ambassador to South Korea ...
sought to assure that the missile shield, including the SM-3 alternative, was adaptable to "hypothetical" threats.
On March 26, 2012, there occurred a
microphone gaffe between President Obama and
President Medvedev. Obama said that he would have "more flexibility" to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense. He was heard telling Medvedev, "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space." Medvedev told the president in English, "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…" and President Obama continued his statement, "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." Medvedev responded saying, again in English, "I understand. I will transmit this information to
Vladimir."
In March 2013, Polish Deputy Minister of Defense
Robert Kupiecki
Robert Kupiecki (born 5 September 1967 in Warsaw) is a Polish diplomat and former Deputy Minister of National Defence.
Education
Kupiecki received a master's degree from the Faculty of History at the University of Warsaw, and a PhD in politica ...
announced that Poland intended to build its own
missile defense within NATO, complementing the US deployment. Poland's tentative budget for the next decade is "$10 billion for the modernization of air defense, where half of this sum is dedicated to lower-tier missile defense."
International reactions to discontinuation of the project
Polish response
The Polish government responded nervously. Some politicians voiced concern that the country would lose its special status in Washington, and that the move by Obama was to appease Moscow.
Jarosław Gowin
Jarosław Adam Gowin (born 4 December 1961) is a Polish conservative politician and editor. Gowin served as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk between 2011 and 2013, and as Minister of Science and Higher Education i ...
, a member of Poland's governing
Civic Platform
Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk.
It w ...
party, said Obama's decision had been made independently of Polish sensitivities. Former Polish President
Lech Wałęsa said he was deeply disappointed by the new US administration's plans. He stated: "The Americans have always only taken care of their own interests and they have used everyone else." According to a September 18, 2009, poll, 56 percent of Poles supported Obama's decision and only 30 percent were against it.
Jarosław Kaczyński
Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...
, the leader of the main Polish opposition party, claimed that the decision of abandoning the shield being announced on September 17 was not an accident. (The date is of great symbolic value to Poland, as on September 17, 1939, Poland was
invaded
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
by the Soviet Union). Polish newspapers showed mixed responses to the discontinuation, with some seeing it as a positive action,
[Wall Street Journal Europe, "Reactions in Europe", p. A6, 19 September 2009] and some seeing it having very negative connotations.
[Fakt, p. 1, 18 September 2009]
However,
Slawomir Nowak, a senior adviser to Polish Prime Minister
Tusk, responded positively to the proposed short- and medium-range missile systems replacing the long-range systems: "If this system becomes reality in the shape Washington is now suggesting, it would actually be better for us than the original missile shield programme," he stated. "We were never really threatened by a long-range missile attack from Iran," he told
TVP Info
TVP Info is a Polish free-to-air television news channel, run by the public broadcaster, state media TVP. It is focused on newscasts, airing nationwide news bulletins from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Its main offices are located at the TV ...
.
Polish non-governmental response
The Polish daily newspaper ''
Rzeczpospolita'' conducted a survey which showed that 48 percent of Poles believed the decision was good for Poland, while 31 percent had the opposite view.
In contrast, the Polish tabloid newspaper ''
Fakt
''Fakt'' (Polish for "fact") is a Polish tabloid daily newspaper published in Warsaw, Poland, by Ringier Axel Springer Polska (a Swiss-German joint-venture subsidiary of Axel Springer SE and Ringier), and is one of the best-selling papers in Pola ...
'', ran a front-page headline "Ale byliśmy naiwni ZDRADA! USA sprzedały nas Rosji i wbiły nam nóż w plecy" which translates to "We were so naive. Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back".
This was also reported by other news organizations.
[ ]
According to a poll by SMG/KRC released by
TVP 50 per cent of respondents rejected the deployment of the shield on Polish soil, while 36 per cent supported it.
The Associated Press reported, "The move has raised fears in the two nations they are being marginalized by Washington even as a resurgent Russia leaves them longing for added American protection."
American response
Reactions in the US to Obama's decision were mixed. Some
Republican critics saw the decision as a move to placate Moscow. Defeated presidential candidate
John McCain called the decision "seriously misguided". Conversely, Democratic House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi said the decision was "brilliant" and was clearly based on an accurate summary of the current threats. Obama rejected accusations that the decision was an appeasement of Moscow. He stated in an interview: "The Russians don't make determinations about what our defence posture is. If the by-product of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid... then that's a bonus."
Russian response
President Medvedev welcomed the news as "positive". "We value the US president’s responsible approach towards implementing our agreements," he stated in an address shown on national television. Prime Minister Putin said it was a "correct and brave" move. The main reason for President Barack Obama's decision was "Russia's uncompromising position on the issue," according to Russian foreign policy expert
Mikhail Margelov
Mikhail Vitalyevich Margelov (russian: Михаил Витальевич Маргелов; born 22 December 1964), is a Russian public figure and politician, Vice President, JSC “Transneft”, and ex-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee ...
, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Federation Council of Russia.
Western European response
Leaders in the
western European Union reacted positively.
German Chancellor
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
welcomed the move, calling it "a very hopeful signal" for relations with Russia. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "an excellent decision from every point of view and I hope that our Russian friends will attach importance to this decision," while
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
gave his full backing, stating that he strongly supported the decision taken by Obama.
Czech response
Czech President Vaclav Klaus said the step by the U.S. government was "no big surprise for anybody who had been following the cues in the past days and months," but that he was "100 percent convinced" that the step was not an expression of a cooling in relations between the United States and the Czech Republic. However,
Mirek Topolanek
Mirek may refer to:
* Mirək, a village in Azerbaijan
* Mirek Mazur, Canadian cycling coach of Polish origin
* Mirek Topolánek, Czech politician
* Mirek Switalski, Mexican sports shooter
* Mirek Smíšek, New Zealander artist of Czech origin ...
, who was prime minister when Prague agreed to co-host the shield, said the U.S. decision to drop the plans "is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence."
Reformulated Obama administration project
The reformulated project announced most prominently by Vice President Biden in October, 2009, would entail smaller, mobile SM-3 interceptors, to be placed by 2018. The whole of the Obama plan "envisions stationing existing
SM-3 interceptors as part of the
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediate-r ...
on
Aegis-equipped ships in the
Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere by 2011, and on land in Central Europe by 2015, as part of a
European Phased Adaptive Approach
The NATO missile defense system is a missile defense system being constructed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in several member states and around the Mediterranean Sea. Plans for this system have changed several times since firs ...
(EPAA). A more advanced system would be deployed by 2018, including to Poland as EPAA phase 3, and a more-advanced generation (EPAA phase 4), theoretically capable of shooting down intercontinental missiles, by 2020."
Phase 4 was cancelled, however, in March 2013, triggering some speculation that it was a concession promised by Obama to President Medvedev before the
2012 United States presidential election
The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were re-e ...
; the allegations of Russian influence over this decision were however denied by the Pentagon.
The planned land base will still be located near
Redzikowo.
[Sam Lagron]
(1 Jul 2016) USNI News Video: What is Aegis Ashore?
/ref> Aegis Ashore
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to intermediate-r ...
for Poland is scheduled to be operational by year-end 2022.[C. Todd Lope]
(26 Nov 2021) Aegis Ashore planned for Poland is on target for 2022
/ref>
See also
*National missile defense
National missile defense (NMD) is a generic term for a type of missile defense intended to shield an entire country against incoming missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs) or other ballistic missiles.
This is also used ...
*Anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight traje ...
*Sentinel program
Sentinel was a proposed US Army anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system designed to provide a light layer of protection over the entire United States, able to defend against small ICBM strikes like those expected from China, or accidental launches f ...
* Deveselu Military Base
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
United States European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) and NATO Missile Defense
U.S. factsheet
Text of the Declaration on Strategic Cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Poland, 20 August 2008
Military installations of the United States in Poland
Abandoned military projects of the United States
Poland
Military installations of Poland