NATO announced on Wednesday that a new air defense base established by the United States in northern Poland is now operational. This base is designed to detect and intercept ballistic missile attacks and is part of the wider missile defense system of the Western military alliance.
According to reports from Reuters, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated during a NATO summit in Washington on Wednesday that the readiness of this new base is an important step in ensuring transatlantic security in the face of increasing ballistic missile threats.
“As a defense alliance, we cannot ignore this threat. Missile defense is an important component of NATO’s core mission of collective defense,” he added, noting the widespread use of ballistic missiles in the current conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The land-based missile defense system known as “Aegis Ashore” is located in the town of Redzikowo in northern Poland and is capable of intercepting medium-range ballistic missiles, as per NATO’s statement.
NATO’s missile defense system aims to protect European citizens, territories, and armed forces from ballistic missile attacks.
Other key components of this system include another “Aegis Ashore” base in Romania and U.S. Navy destroyers stationed in the port of Rota, Spain, as well as radar systems located in Kurecik, Turkey.
NATO states that the “Aegis Ashore” system is purely defensive. Approximately 200 military personnel are stationed at the missile interception bases in Poland and Romania, with the anti-missile system at the Deveselu Air Base in southern Romania having been operational since 2016.