Redzikowo (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Reitz'', Kashubian: ''Redzëkòwò'') is a village in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, located in Gmina Słupsk,

Słupsk County __NOTOC__ Słupsk County ( pl, powiat słupski, csb, Stôłpsk kréj) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the Baltic coast. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a ...

, Pomeranian Voivodeship, 5 km to the east of

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

. It has 405 inhabitants (2006). Just to the north of it is the Słupsk-Redzikowo Airport which was to be the site of a US missile defense complex that was planned to be built by 2012. The original project was cancelled in September 2009, but the airfield was expected to be a base for

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 primari ...

Block IIA missiles of the Aegis Ashore component of 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 intermediat ...

starting in 2018. As the work was delayed, in 2020 the base is expected to be operational in 2022.(27 Jan 2022) Sailors move in to the Navy’s newest base on Poland’s Baltic coast
NSF-Redzikowo

History

The village is first mentioned in historical records from 1288, when it was part of fragmented

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

, and duke

Mestwin II Mestwin II ( pl, Mściwój II or ''Mszczuj II'') ( 1220 – December 25, 1294) was a Duke of Pomerelia, member of the Samborides dynasty. He ruled Pomerelia as a sole ruler from 1273 to 1294. Early life Mestwin II was the son of Swietopelk II an ...

granted the village to a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

Norbertine The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

nuns. In subsequent centuries Reitz had been a fief owned in succession by various noble families. In the 18th century the village became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

, and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire. In 1814 the manor was sold to the Arnold family. In 1938 the owner of the estate had been Friedrich Wilhelm Arnold. In 1935Stolp Flugplatz. Stolp-Pommern.de Website on Stolp in Pomerania and Regional History (German language)
/ref> the construction of an airfield named ''Stolp-Reitz'' started next to the village (earlier airfield named ''Stolp-West'' located in the area was built during World War I). Later the airfield became an Air Weapons School for the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, and a number of hangars and other buildings were added. On March 8, 1945, the region was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

and the German inhabitants were expelled. From the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to 1950 the base was used by the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

. Although after the end of the war the region became part of People's Republic of Poland, Redzikowo and its airfield remained under Russian control until 1950. It was handed over to the Polish Air Force in 1950. The base was subsequently used by the 28 Słupski Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego (28th Słupsk Fighter Aviation Regiment, disbanded in 1999). It also functioned for a time as a civil airport. At present the airfield is only used by small civil airplanes.

Aegis Ashore

The governments of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and Poland approved the building and operation of an Aegis Ashore

AN/SPY-1 The AN/SPY-1 is a United States Navy 3D radar system manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The array is a passive electronically scanned system and a key component of the Aegis Combat System. The system is computer controlled and uses four complement ...

system adjacent to the town. Delays added around four years to the construction process stretching the start of operations into 2022. Another system is at

Deveselu Deveselu () is a commune in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Comanca and Deveselu. Geography The commune is situated on the Wallachian Plain, about west of the river Olt. It is located in the south-central part of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, and has been operational since 2016. They are part of the

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 ...

to regional missile defence against threats from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and includes

Aegis The aegis ( ; grc, αἰγίς ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a d ...

radar-capable ships based at

Rota, Spain The town of Rota is a Spanish municipality located in the Province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Its surface area is 84 km2 and is bordered by the towns of Chipiona, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. It is located near the city o ...

, and

AN/TPY-2 The AN/TPY-2 Surveillance Transportable Radar, also called the Forward Based X-Band Transportable (FBX-T) is a long-range, very high-altitude active digital antenna array X band surveillance radar designed to add a tier to existing missile and a ...

radar in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

(operational since 2011).CSI
(30 Jun 2021) AN/TPY-2 Radar
Construction of Aegis Ashore in Poland nearing completion
Jen Judson, DefenseNews, 2022-03-10

References

External links

Demonstration in Redzikowo, March 29, 2008] {{Authority control Villages in Słupsk County Polish Air Force bases Soviet Air Force bases Poland–Soviet Union relations