US missile defense complex in Poland

The United States missile defense complex in Poland, also called the European Interceptor Site (EIS), was a planned American missile defense base. It was intended to contain 10 silo-based interceptors: two-stage versions of the existing three-stage Ground Based Interceptors with Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles that had a closing speed of about 7 km/s. The first planned complex was to be located near Redzikowo, Poland, forming a Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system in conjunction with a U.S. narrow-beam midcourse tracking and discrimination radar system located in Brdy, Czech Republic. EIS was cancelled in 2009 and subsequently replaced with a phased plan—the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, which will include SM-3 Block IIA interceptors to be positioned in Poland from 2018.

According to the United States government, the missile defense system was intended to protect against future missiles from Iran. Russia strongly opposed the system. As an alternative, Russia proposed sharing the Qabala Radar in Azerbaijan, which Russia leases, but this was not seen as an acceptable substitute by the US.

While the Polish and Czech governments were in favor of the project, the missile shield received opposition from some groups within Poland and the Czech Republic. Opposition activity included protests and a relay hunger strike by two Czech activists in May 2008, which lasted for 300 days.

On September 17, 2009, the Obama administration announced that plans for the project had been scrapped.

In October 2009—during a trip by Vice President Joe Biden to Warsaw—a new, smaller interceptor project to go forward on roughly the same schedule as the Bush administration plan, was proposed; and it was welcomed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

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Wikipedia