American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018

"...a US aviation unit consisting of a dozen American airmen will be stationed in Poland in October or November this year, the first step of a permanent United States presence in Poland."

Source: thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/107056,American-SM3-ballistic-missile-site-in-Poland-by-2018

It will be interesting to see if Poland gets added to America's Visa Waiver Program come this autumn or if it will wait until 2018. I can't imagine this issue wasn't on the negotiating table.

I wonder if they'll be on the forum moaning about Polish customer service in a few years.

i doubt it. they'll bring their own shops with them. PX (Post Exchange)

If they have to be in Poland I hope their presence will gives no cause of concern for Poles and their families. Americans should strive to establish and maintain a reputation of being a good neighbor such as they do in Germany and not elsewhere like in Okinawa.

Wherever they end up the local community should completely avoid becoming economically dependent on this future American base. This has been the mistake made in the past by other communities in other areas of the world and it is always the locals who suffer the uncertainty and a spike in long-term unemployment when such bases ultimately get shut down.

I don't believe that Poland benefits from having this missile system other than proving to America that it is a trustworthy ally. The excuse given for basing this system in Poland is to stop missiles from Iran hitting Europe. But Iran has never threatened Europe with a military attack. In fact, Poland has diplomatic relations with Iran.

Even if you were to believe the Americans that this missile system is not to counter a potential Russian attack then the only conclusion that can be made is that the system is there to defend Israel from any possible Iranian counteroffensive should Iran be attacked by the West. In that case Poland should not become involved at all and this missile system should be put in Israel itself or some sparsely populated, less significant, and out of the way part of Europe; Scotland for instance.

Poland will get the latest version of the SM-3, the Block IIA which is still in development form and will be a much more improved version of the missile. It will be part of new Aegis Ashore radar-missile system. Some 24 of the missiles are expected to be placed in Poland by 2018. Obama was critisized (to Moscow's amazement) by scrapping Bush's plan for the THAAD system to be placed. The THAAD is still more or less in its development stage. While the SM-3 has been proven to be effective. The SM-3 has a longer range than THAAD (over 500 kilometers) and max altitude of 160 kilometers.

defenseindustrydaily.com/land-based-sm-3s-for-israel-04986/

The leadership in Poland are a bunch of morons in some aspects.
This move is completely Pathetic.


More like the Polish leadership sucks up to America.

i dont know about you
but having decent missiles to protect poland sounds like a good thing

then again you dont care
youre canadian not polish

I agree. It seems pretty clear that the Mid-East is currently the world's "hot-spot" and therefore the most likely source of incoming missiles. I may not be picturing the triangulation correctly but I doubt this has anything to do with protecting Israel from this far away. Certainly though it offers protection from anything originating out of Iraq, the -stans or to the east targeted to the Northwest.

I hope there was no trading of visa-free agreements involved in this agreement.

The missiles protect northern Europe including Poland, they have no function defending the USA (except US bases in Europe which would be an obvious target) or Isreal

Just hope they come armed with warheads and not plant pots, this time.

legend doesnt want poland to be protected
he makes pro russia statements frequently
its pretty obvious that he would be against anything that protects poland

Look at the following list of countries and how their economies grew under the shelter of America.

Germany
Israel
Korea
Now Poland

You can't argue with that C.V...

They're too busy and as a country who has had 25 years of wars plus one of the largest armies in the world, they've had enough of that sort of thing.


Also unlikely.

Iran is the danger, and Israel watch their every move.

you can if you are legend
he wants poland under russian rule

I count Iran as a -stan but should have ID'ed it separately I guess.

We'll see. Life is full of unlikely things happening. I went to a party one night and met Bill Gates and ahalf-dozen other tech uber-millionnaires. Was not likely but...

Fortune favors the prepared.

It does indeed.

Don't you think that those countries with one notable exception did it on their own and American presence there has nothing to do with the state of their economy.

How do you explain this then? Americans also have their basis there yet they are not doing so well.
Greece
Iceland
Spain
Kenya
You've been reading too much Geroge Firedmann and like to take credit where none is due.


Yes you can, this myth is easily dismissed as a pure nonsense, figment of one's imagination.

hardly
west germany would never have worked without american oversight in the early days
and korea is well documented


iceland is doing just fine
spain is much better than it was 30 odd years ago


you would prefer poland to be russias vassal wouldnt you

No, but I would not put a blind faith in America as a savior either. As for American military presence in Poland I’m still not convinced it’s a good idea. Convince me but use a better argument.

I have read the book the next 100 years, it was interesting.

So SHT you don't learn from books or other read-worthy sources, SHT you are the oracle?

Yes I am and here's one prediction for you. History has proven time and time again that superpowers have their own interests at heart ahead of their most trusted of allies and they will sacrifice anyone standing in their way to reach their goal. America is no exception.

what
exactly is wrong with having some nice missiles in poland to defend nato/poland with?

SHT, here is one for you ! Poland is no David - 'When choosing between two evils, always try the one you have never tried before.'


SHT, forgets one thing about history ' Poland's geographical location has been her enemy and savior through history, this time round it is her savior again.'

Poland doesn't have long range missiles like the SM-3 or THAAD. I doubt that even if it wanted to purchase the system for it's own arsenal political pressure from Russia or maybe even some EU countries wouldn't let the transaction take place. Poland for it's own missile shield had weapons on the short range level, for medium range it need to purchase weapons abroad, read somewhere the French Aster-30 and Israeli David's Sling are prime candidates. btw legend, if Poland was to rely on its European allys it might as well just surrender. Time and time again they're sold her out or collaborated against her.

quote=warszawski]'When choosing between two evils, always try the one you have never tried before.'[/quote]
Didn’t Roosevelt demonstrate already what America is all about? Eager of you to share the spoils of WWII at the expanse of Poland.


You know what’s the definition of a sovereign state is? Is it necessary for foreign troops to man those? If it’s done within NATO then the sites can be located on Polish soil as long as Poles man those sites not some foreigners.


Nonsense, The location has nothing to do with the history, the greed of our neighbors is the cause, same countris in the same location minus the greed = no problem.


We managed to do quite well for a way longer period of time then America exist as a state, don’t flatter yourself.

Does Poland have the money to pay for her own SM-3 ballistic missile's, if so then that would be seen as a good contribution to Nato, if not then the next best thing is your ally.


Not that old chestnut, in war you protect your own first, everything else is history.


SHT, I am now losing respect for you as a historian and tactician.


The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them....

theres really no sense in buying her own
america will pay


another patriot that doesnt actually live in poland

l o l

Roosevelt was a WASP prick. He knew nothing of Poland's history. He once even said 'Poland existing starts wars in Europe, and offsets the balance of power" so I guess in his mind Poland wasn't supposed to exist.

America wouldn't let anyone man their weapons. They paid for it and are responsible for them. Soviets occupying Poland and forcefully stationing troops there made Poland non sovereign. It's quite another thing when Poland invites foreign troops to stay on it's soil, just like Germany has. NATO promised to help if one of its members, Poland for instance, was attacked. This help could mean just declaring war and not doing anything, or some kind of a limited engagement. By Poland having American troops and billions of dollars or American equipment on her soil it gets a much better guarantee of intervention in case of war.

especially as those bases will be a target in any war
i know if i was attacking poland
id take out the yanks first
they have better and more modern hardware

As former assistant defense minister Romuald Szeremietiew said in a recent interview "Russia is spending 700 billion dollars on rearmament over the next 10 years, Belarus is also spending more on the military. Stationing Iskander ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad, having large join Russian-Belarussian military exercises on Poland's border with Poland being the enemy shows intimidation and aggression from Moscow. People didn't think Russia would invade Georgia and it did, with Europe doing absolutely nothing. Shows how indecisive and weak NATO really is. Maybe not today, but in the near future Russia could poise a very serious threat to Poland once again. It's our job to be ready" He also said how he doesn't understand how a liar like Komorowski has the backing of 69% of Polish society. A man who lied about his doctorate, about being part of Polish nobility, a man who accused the innocent Szeremietiew of corruption and pressed for his dismissal.

LOL, of course a government can still screw themselves up through so many other ways like social spending, corruption and a faulty taxation system.

Unfortunately, you have to look at Japan, Germany and Korea differently. Aside from our basically rebuilding them with a new industrial base after the wars they are a far cry from the situations in the other countries. There were/are tens of thousands of troops in those three countries for decades. The footprint of roads and infrastructure from all those years is far, far beyond anything in countries where we just has a couple of air and naval bases.

Begienski (sp?) is correct though. If the government is smart they will use the payments from the base for infrastructure improvements and direct costs incurred.