Europe
Documents & Texts from the Washington File
21 October 2009
Missile Defense Plan Designed to Meet Growing
Threat to Europe
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
Washington — The new phased missile defense plan that President Obama
has proposed for Europe is designed to meet a growing threat not only to the
United States, but also to allies, Vice President Biden said October 21 in
Warsaw, Poland.
“We now appreciate that Poland’s government agrees with us that
there is now a better way, with new technology and new information to defend
against the emerging ballistic missile threats,” Biden said. (See “Remarks
by Vice President Biden with Polish Prime Minister Tusk.”)
“Our new phased adaptive approach to missile defense is designed to
meet a growing threat not only to the United States, but first and foremost
to Europe,” he said.
On the first stop of a three-nation European trip, Biden met with Polish Prime
Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on October 21.
At a joint press conference, Tusk said Poland views the new missile defense
plan “as very interesting, necessary, and we are ready at the appropriate
scale to participate.”
On September 17 President Obama announced he would halt plans to install an
advanced radar station in the Czech Republic and 10 ground-based missile interceptors
in Poland, and instead would base a simpler system using proven technology.
This new configuration is designed to address the more immediate threats posed
by short-range and intermediate-range missiles.
Beginning in 2011, the new missile defense architecture will feature deployments
of sea- and land-based missile interceptors, primarily upgraded versions of
the U.S. Navy’s existing Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), and a range of sensors
in Europe to defend against the growing ballistic missile threat from countries
including Iran. Current intelligence indicates that short- and medium-range
missiles from Iran or other countries pose the greater threat to Eastern Europe.
The components of the new configuration that will be placed in Poland will
require ratification by the Polish Parliament.
The phased adaptive system is more focused, is based on new intelligence,
and is based on proven technology. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said after
the president’s announcement that the proposed system can be deployed
around the world on relatively short notice during crises or as a situation
demands.
“Simply put, our missile plan is better security for NATO and is better
security for Poland,” Biden said at the press conference. In addition,
the United States is sending a U.S. Army Patriot anti-missile battery to Poland
from Germany several times each year until 2012 to help Poland in upgrading
its air defense capabilities.
While in Warsaw, Biden participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument
to the Ghetto Heroes that commemorates the Jewish uprising against Nazi occupation
troops in 1943.
Biden travels on to Bucharest, Romania, and Prague, the Czech Republic, before
returning to Washington.
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