By Olha Hembik | 2024-12-11

WARSAW -- The Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System in Redzikowo village, Poland, the country's first permanent US missile defense base, is a key part of NATO's missile defense shield, observers say.

The base, which opened in November, is meant to thwart enemy short-range (1,000–3,000 km) and medium-range (3,000–5,500 km) ballistic missiles.

Its main task is to protect the United States and its European allies from missile attack, especially from Iran.

"The missile defense base in Redzikowo has 24 vertical silos for launching SM-3 interceptors. Basically, you can call them the most advanced and mightiest interceptor missiles in the world," Ivan Kirichevsky, a military columnist with Defense Express, told Kontur.

NATO's missile shield also includes another Aegis Ashore system at Deveselu, Romania; an early warning radar at Kürecik, Türkiye; and a command center at Ramstein, Germany.

In addition, a naval version of Aegis is installed on US Navy destroyers stationed at Spain's Rota Naval Base, according to Wprost, a Polish publication.

"The Redzikowo base is such a powerful facility that, taken together with the similar base in Romania, it not only 'shields' the whole of Europe but ... technologically negates all of the Kremlin's threats of making 'nuclear ashes' of the civilized world," said Kirichevsky.

'Missile defense destroyer on land'

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, called the base's opening one of the top strategic events in Polish history since 1989.

The installation at Redzikowo comprises an AN/SPY-1 radar, MK41 vertical launching systems (similar to those installed on US Navy cruisers and destroyers) and SM-3 surface-to-air missiles, according to Kosiniak-Kamysz.

"You could literally call this base a 'missile defense destroyer on land,' because it was built using the same launcher elements, fire control systems and other elements as those on US Navy destroyers," said Kirichevsky.

"For example, to provide missile defense to Israel during Iranian attacks [in October], US military personnel had to separately deploy US ships bearing interceptor missiles to the region," he said.

"When it comes to Poland, there won't be a need to send anything more, because everything needed is already in Redzikowo."

Guaranteeing peace

Construction of the base began in 2016.

"In 2016, it was already clear that Russia would try to destabilize not only Ukraine but also other countries, including members of the Atlantic Alliance," said Stanislav Zhelikhovsky, a Kyiv-based political scientist.

"After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine [in February 2022] by Russia, construction intensified because the risks had become even greater," he told Kontur.

In December 2023, the US Navy took possession of the base to finalize its network and computer systems.

The Redzikowo base is one of the final phases in the European Phased Adaptive Approach being implemented by the United States. Poles expect the site to guarantee peace.

"Poland has always tied high hopes to the presence of American anti-missile systems in our country. We always wanted to feel safer," Piotr Kaszuwara, a military correspondent and founder of Fundacja Przyszłość dla Ukrainy (UA Future), told Kontur.

Joint defense projects

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski September 2 said that Poland has a duty to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine before they enter Polish airspace, a task that the Aegis Ashore missile defense base will help accomplish, the Financial Times reported.

In a subsequent conversation with journalists at the NATO summit November 7 in Washington, Sikorski clarified that for now this is just an idea under discussion, the Polish Press Agency reported.

"We can develop joint defense projects with Poland and interact directly with the United States on various security issues," said Kirichevsky.

"For example, Ukraine could offer to ... pay part of the operating costs of the Redzikowo missile defense base to have it also protect our airspace," he said. "It would be possible to engage the Polish defense industry as a senior partner with US intermediation to strengthen the defense of Ukrainian skies."

Show of strength

The Kremlin reacted predictably, stating that the new US missile defense base in Poland will increase the overall nuclear threat.

"This site has obvious potential to weaken our deterrent capabilities, and nobody is hiding its anti-Russian orientation," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said November 21.

The base has been added to a list of priority targets for potential destruction, she added.

In turn, Washington reaffirmed its NATO commitments.

"We take our Article Five commitments to our NATO allies incredibly seriously. It's rock-solid, and that's not going to change," said White House spokesman John Kirby on November 25.

Article Five provides that if any NATO member state is the victim of an armed attack, all other NATO members will take actions deemed necessary to assist their ally.

"It is necessary to seriously strengthen NATO's defensive strategy and develop solutions that will be effective for both member states and Ukraine," said Zhelikhovsky.

"We need to show strength, bare our teeth and show that the Western world is united and effective, and that it will not retreat from its positions but will defend freedom and democracy."