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MISSILE DEFENSE
US to abide by Patriot missile deal with Poland

Poland sees US Patriot missiles in place by year's end
Ninety-six ground-to-air missiles from the United States will be deployed in Poland by the end of this year, deputy Polish defence minister Stanislaw Komorowski said Thursday. Speaking with AFP, Komorowski said deployment of the radar-guided Patriot missiles -- capable of knocking out both aircraft and missiles in flight -- was proceeding in line with a bilateral security declaration signed in August between Warsaw and Washington. Still pending is an agreement on the stationing of US troops in Poland to handle the weapons, but "everything indicates that we will be able to conclude negotiations in July," he said. "That would leave enough time for a Patriot battery and about 100 US soldiers to be deployed in Poland by the end of the year." Having such missiles on Polish soil was a precondition set by Warsaw for agreeing to the positioning in Poland of long-range anti-ballistic missiles -- a key part of a US missile defence shield vigorously opposed by Russia. US President Barack Obama said last month that the missile shield -- conceived by the previous Bush administration -- would go ahead, so long as costs are kept under control and its interest "proven". The issue of missile defence poisoned relations between Russia and the United States in the second term of president George W. Bush. Russia has said the plans directly threaten its security. In April, Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US missile defence plan made it less likely that Moscow would go ahead with cuts in its own nuclear arsenal.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) May 21, 2009
 The United States confirmed Thursday it still plans deploy a Patriot missile battery to Poland, regardless of what happens with plans for a European leg of the US missile defense shield.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said President Barack Obama was "committed to carrying out the terms" of a security agreement signed last year with Poland.

"We're committed to supporting Poland's defense needs, including NATO inter-operability," Kelly said.

"We remain committed to, specifically to rotating in a battery, a Patriot battery."

Poland had made deployment of a Patriot air defense battery a condition for the deployment of elements of the US missile defense system in its territory.

But Kelly stressed that the agreement with the Poles was "independent" of plans to deploy 10 long-range interceptor missiones in Poland by the end of 2012, and a powerful targeting radar in the Czech Republic -- a project Russia vehemently opposes.

In April, US President Barack Obama said he would move forward with the missile defense plan developed by the previous administration as long as a missile threat from Iran persists. But he said the system must be cost-effective and proven to work.

In Warsaw, Polish deputy defense minister Stanislaw Komorowski said a battery of 96 Patriot surface-to-air missiles will be deployed in Poland before the end of the year, if the two countries reach an agreement on the legal status of US forces in Poland.

"Everything indicates that we will be able to conclude negotiations in July," he said.

"That would leave enough time for a Patriot battery and about 100 US soldiers to be deployed in Poland by the end of the year."

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MISSILE DEFENSE
US-Russia treaty must take missile defence into account: Lavrov
 Moscow (AFP) May 20, 2009
 Any new US-Russian nuclear disarmament treaty must take missile defence into account, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday, as talks on the expiring START treaty were underway in Moscow. Lavrov's comments appeared aimed at US plans to install elements of a global missile shield in eastern Europe which have angered Moscow and threaten to undermine talks on the landmark 1991 ... read more






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