Polish Parliament Greenlights Deal on US Anti-Missile Base

Poland’s lower house of parliament has authorized President Andrzej Duda to ratify a technical agreement on establishing a US anti-missile base in the north of the country.

The document outlines technical conditions for the US anti-missile base’s operation on Polish soil, such as restrictions on the height of the buildings that can be built around the base, the use of devices emitting electromagnetic waves, and flights of military aircraft over and around the future facility. 

Washington wants to expand the European anti-missile defense system (AMD) by putting land- and sea-based radar and interceptors in the village of Redzikowo near the northern Polish town of Slupsk.

The deal stipulates that Poland will host some 24 vertical-launch SM-3 missiles each.

The construction of AMD components in Poland is set to start next year and be completed by 2018.

In 2009, a year after Warsaw and Washington signed the agreement, President Barack Obama assured that the deal would be canceled if the issue with Iran over its nuclear program was sorted out.

However, despite the agreement with Tehran, which curbed its controversial nuclear program in exchange for the easing of international sanctions, the NATO-backed European AMD plan is set to go forward.