Aegis Ashore Missile Defence System in Poland Opened

The operational capability of the base, which is subordinate to the US Navy, was announced in July this year when it was integrated into the Alliance at the NATO summit in Washington.

’The United States, also present in a purely physical sense, is the guarantor of the security of the Republic of Poland, as well as of the entire North Atlantic Alliance, and today, in the era of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, above all of its eastern flank,« said President Andrzej Duda.

He added that Poland buys the most American armaments of any NATO ally and »not only in the military sense, but also in the political sense, it can be said that the relationship between Poland and the United States is the best ever«.

He recalled that Poland’s independence was due, among other things, to President Woodrow Wilson, who made it one of the points of his peace plan. »We welcomed and greeted the US soldiers with great cordiality as friends and we are happy that the United States has placed its next military infrastructure on our territory,« he declared. He recalled discussions about the installation of the system with President Lech Kaczynski (he was a minister in his chancellery), who told him that the interceptor missiles were there to defend the US, but that an American base in Poland would signal »that this is no longer a Russian sphere of influence«.

’In 2016, we were digging the cornerstone for the construction of this base, I was already the president at that time, decisions were made that there would be North Atlantic Alliance units in Poland, the framework state would be the US, that US troops would also be present under bilateral agreements,« he said. He recalled that there are currently around 10,000 American military personnel in Poland.

’The American destroyer on Polish shore is becoming a fact, an extraordinary event in the security history of Poland, the United States and NATO,« - said Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, referring to the imitation ship used at the base, where a land-based version of the launcher for SM-3 missiles that are also used on the ships was deployed.

He described the installation as a »milestone« for NATO air and missile defence and a »cornerstone« of Polish-American military cooperation.

As the head of the Ministry of Defence said, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East will confirm the importance of air defence, and with the US base integrated into the allied system, Poland - along with its twin base in Romania, the radar installation in Turkey and the Aegis system on US ships - »becomes part of the most effective, largest air defence in the world«.

Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that work to place the base in Pomerania’s Redzikowo had been underway since 2002 and had been pursued by »all successive US and Polish governments«. »It is a tangible proof of this cooperation, it is a tangible proof of our alliance,« he said.

’The base in Redzikowo is a perpetual presence of US troops, allied troops on the territory of the Republic of Poland. Strategically for Poland, this is one of the most important events in history after ’89«. - assessed the head of the Ministry of Defence. »Just as all governments, presidents, ambassadors have been striving for this base to be established here, Poland has been responding to the call of the United States for missions around the world for all these years,« - he said, pointing to Polish participation in US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He assured that the Americans could also count on Polish involvement in the future.

Also, the Defence Minister mentioned Poland’s growing defence spending, which is expected to reach 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2025. He added that these investments, the modernisation of the armed forces and allied cooperation are »to a good basis« for cooperation with future President Donald Trump.

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also shared his memories. »I will never forget 20 August 2008, when, in the presence of the late President Lech Kaczyński, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, I signed an agreement on the establishment of this base with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A dozen days after the Russian invasion of Georgia - and it was no coincidence,« he said.

He stressed that after a change of concept under President Barack Obama, which took place two years later, »the current version of the base can protect not only the territory of the United States, but also Europe, including Poland«. He recalled that the agreement on the base was linked to the signing of the Status of American Forces Agreement (SOFA), under which 10,000 American troops are currently stationed in Poland.

’Governments changed in the United States, in Poland, this base was created. This base is a monument not only to the Polish-American alliance, its stability, but also to the Polish-Polish alliance. At a time when Russia is again invading its neighbour Poland’s unity across political divides is all the more important,« - he said.

According to US Ambassador Mark Brzezinski, the achievement of full operational readiness shows the importance of the base and Poland as a whole to US military capabilities.

’There will be a new administration in the United States in a few weeks, but the main directions of cooperation will not change. President-elect Donald Trump has been and continues to be a steady, strong friend on whom Poland can rely.«

Commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa (NAVEUR) Adm Stuart Munsch said the installation is intended to augment the NATO arsenal to prevent increasingly sophisticated attacks, regardless of the direction from which they may be launched against various targets. He stressed the defensive nature of the base. Institutional and personal ties between Americans and Poles and relationships across the Alliance are becoming more important in these times of new Russian aggression, he said. He assured of the United States« commitment to the security of Poland and other NATO allies. »The transfer of command is an expression of the kind of common mutual defence that NATO guarantees,« he - he added.

The ceremony was attended by Witold Waszczykowski, who, as Deputy Foreign Minister, was the main negotiator of the »shield« from the Polish side.

The agreement to deploy US anti-ballistic missile interceptors in Poland was concluded in 2008 in Warsaw. The concept pushed by the George W. Bush administration was to place a launcher of 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland. The guidance radar was to be placed in the Czech Republic.

In September 2009, President Obama announced a change of plans. It was said to have been justified on strategic grounds - a lower threat from Iran than previously assessed - as well as technical and financial grounds.

It was decided that the base in Poland would be armed not with strategic missiles, but with medium-range SM-3 missiles (used to exo-atmospheric interceptions Short, of Medium and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles - SRBM/MRBM/IRBM in Standard SM-3 Block IIA and perhaps also Block IB version). This system is now used primarily on Navy destroyers and cruisers to protect US troops in Europe, Middle East and in Pacific. Soon after the announcement of the new concession, the Americans declared that they still wanted to locate the base in Poland.

In the negotiations on the US missile defence system, Poland made it a condition to strengthen its air defence. The Americans committed to rotational deployment of their Patriot anti-aircraft, which they later practised.

In 2016, the Aegis Ashore base in Devesel, Romania, was commissioned; the handover date for the Redzikowo installation, whose construction began in 2016, was set for 2018 and postponed several times. The Pentagon pointed to reasons on the part of the construction company and the COVID-19 pandemic. The official subordination of the base to the U.S. Navy took place in December 2023; the base, a contributor to the US multilayered Ballistic Missile Defence System , also became part of the NATO system for defence against these threats.