Poland celebrates the inauguration of the US missile base as a symbol of its security

On Wednesday, the United States inaugurated a new air defence base in northern Poland, an occasion that the president of the European nation remarked demonstrated the country’s security as a NATO member, despite Russia’s ongoing conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

Located in the town of Redzikowo close to the Baltic coast, the base has been under development since the 2000s.

As Donald Trump’s election victory has stirred concerns among certain NATO members, Warsaw asserts that the ongoing development of the base by successive U.S. presidents demonstrates that Poland’s military alliance with Washington remains steadfast, regardless of who occupies the White House.

“The United States… serves as the guarantor of Poland’s security,” President Andrzej Duda stated.

He stated that the ongoing presence of U.S. troops at the base indicated that Poland, which was a communist state until 1989, was “not in the Russian sphere of influence”.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin described the base as an attempt to contain Russia by positioning American military infrastructure closer to its borders.

The opening arrives during a tense response from certain NATO members regarding Trump’s election, as he has pledged not to protect nations that fail to allocate sufficient funds for defense.

Poland asserts that it has no reason for concern, being the alliance’s largest defense spender in relation to its economic size, and conservative Duda has emphasized his strong relationship with Trump.

MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM

The U.S. facility at Redzikowo is integrated into a larger NATO missile defense system known as “Aegis Ashore,” which the alliance claims is capable of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Additional essential components of the shield consist of a location in Romania, U.S. Navy destroyers stationed at the Spanish port of Rota, and an early-warning radar system in Kurecik, Turkey.

Moscow had identified the base as a threat as early as 2007, during its planning stages.

NATO asserts that the shield serves a strictly defensive purpose.

According to military sources, the system in Poland is currently capable of intercepting missiles launched from the Middle East. However, to target projectiles originating from Russia, the radar would require a directional adjustment, a complicated process that involves a shift in policy.

On Monday, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that the scope of the shield required expansion, which Warsaw plans to discuss with NATO and the United States.

Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary General, is scheduled to meet with Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw later on Wednesday.