Poland opens long-awaited US missile base

By AFP
November 14, 2024
A band sits near the deck house of the American ballistic missile defence base to be integrated into the Aegis Ashore missile defense system, on the day of its inauguration in Redzikowo, Poland on November 13, 2024. — Reuters
A band sits near the deck house of the American ballistic missile defence base to be integrated into the "Aegis Ashore" missile defense system, on the day of its inauguration in Redzikowo, Poland on November 13, 2024. — Reuters

REDZIKOWO, Poland: Polish and American officials on Wednesday opened a US missile base in northern Poland originally intended to defend the West against threats from the Middle East, but now aimed at confronting Russia.

The Redzikowo base, 230-kms from the Russian border, has been operational since July but was officially inaugurated only on Wednesday.

“A US destroyer on Polish soil has become a fact,” Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, describing it as “of historical importance for the security of Poland, the United States and Nato.”