Another American military base has opened in the Polish town of Redzikowo. Its construction has been discussed for almost two decades, and this is the first in the country object of this kind. What is its peculiarity and what is placed there - in our material.
An important element in the system
Negotiations on a permanent base to which it is possible to transfer missile defense systems, began under the administration of George W. Bush - Jr. in the early 2000s. In 2008, a corresponding agreement was signed.
The facility was built in the north of the country, 165 kilometers from the border with Russia.
“The base in Redzikowo is the eternal presence of American troops on Polish territory. For Poland, this is one of the most important events after 1989,” said the country's National Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz.
This is the second deployment of the US Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Europe. The first took place back in 2016 in southern Romania, in Deveselu. Other NATO missile defense elements in the region include four U.S. destroyers based in the Spanish port of Rota, as well as early warning radar in Kurejik, Turkey.
The Aegis system was being developed for the Arleigh Burke destroyers and Ticonderoga cruisers. However, then the Pentagon decided to create a land-based version. It's the one that will be deployed to Poland.
“... and with nuclear warheads, too.”
The complex includes AN/SPY-1 radar, Mk 41 VLS launchers and SM-3 (Standard Missile-3) anti-ballistic missiles. As explained by Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the magazine “National Defense”, the appearance of these installations will allow the U.S. to launch not only interceptor missiles.
“The standard Mk 41 VLS launchers theoretically and practically allow loading into them not only SM-3 anti-missiles, but also Tomahawk cruise missiles with both conventional and nuclear warheads,” he said.
According to him, it will be very difficult to find out about such a replacement in advance - it can be done only if there are agency sources at the facility itself.
Korotchenko added that SM-3 is capable of destroying not only intercontinental ballistic missiles, but also satellites in Earth orbit.
“For Russia, there is an obvious need to consider and adjust some of the plans in the military sphere, including the possibility of destroying the said facility in Poland in a real conflict with NATO,” the expert said.
Similar systems - Typhon with Mk 70 launchers - have already been deployed by the US to the north of Europe. They can also be used to launch Tomahawks with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers. These complexes Americans in the framework of exercises placed in May and in September 2023 on the island of Bornholm in Denmark. In addition, they were delivered to the Philippines.
However, the effectiveness of the base in Redzikovo is questionable.
According to military expert Alexei Leonkov, in the event of a conflict between Russia and NATO, Moscow has effective means to destroy this facility.
“This system was supposed to fulfill the role of intercepting ballistic missiles, it is now completed, but its construction was suspended due to the fact that in the Kaliningrad region we deployed Iskander operational-tactical missile systems, whose range allows this base to 'zero out' in case some kind of global conflict between NATO and Russia starts,” he said. - The original efficiency that was conceived for this base in Redzikovo has lost its relevance.”
Expanding presence in the east
The alliance has been planning to expand its missile defense system for a long time - as early as the Lisbon summit in 2010, they agreed on the need to create an integrated missile defense system for the entire bloc.
The Kremlin both then and now reacted unequivocally: such steps lead to confrontation.
“This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on the territory of Europe toward our borders. This is nothing but an attempt to contain our military potential. Of course, it leads to taking appropriate measures to ensure parity,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on the opening of the new base.
At the same time, this is far from the only manifestation of North Atlantic Alliance activity near Russia's borders in recent years.
In 2016, the leaders of the bloc's member states agreed to create a forward presence force in the east of the European Union. A year later, four multinational combat groups were formed in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland. They are coordinated from Szczecin in Poland. And in 2018, the headquarters in Poland's Elblag started working. In April 2022 decided to increase the number of combat groups to eight. Additional units - from 600 to two thousand people - were placed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
In the summer of 2022 at the summit in Madrid, these forces increased to 300 thousand. Moreover, if earlier there were 40 thousand people who should be ready to move to any point in Europe within 15 days, now the terms have been reduced to ten days for the first 100 thousand troops.
In addition, after Finland and Sweden joined the alliance, the territory of these countries is already actively used for military purposes. In particular, Helsinki signed an agreement with Washington on defense cooperation, under the terms of which it undertook to transfer 15 military facilities to the Pentagon. Among them are four air force bases and a base on Russar Island, which creates convenient conditions for controlling the Gulf of Finland. Swedish armed forces will also be stationed at some of the facilities.
Moscow is forced to reciprocate the build-up of military infrastructure near its borders by increasing its armed forces, creating two new military districts in the northwest of the country and strengthening its own military potential. However, Brussels is not stopping, and this may lead to the beginning of a new arms race - in terms of not only technical equipment, but also the emergence of bases in various regions of the world.
David Narmania
Source - ria.ru .
