US offers details on Polish missile shield plan Europe trip (2nd Roundup)

Oct 6, 2009, 18:24 GMT

Warsaw/Prague - Poland would likely serve as the site for a stationary SM-3-type missile system, possibly based in Redzikowo, under a new proposal presented by the United States, the Polish Press Agency PAP said Tuesday.

The announcement came as the Czech government confirmed that US Vice-President Joseph Biden planned to visit the Czech Republic as part of his European tour on October 20-24 that would also take him to Poland and Romania.

In Prague, Biden is to meet with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer and President Vaclav Klaus, the premier's spokesman Roman Prorok said in a statement.

Polish and Czech reports said Tuesday that a high-ranking US official would visit Warsaw and Prague in an effort to to mend ailing relations after US President Barack Obama decided to drop a Bush-era missile defence system.

The proposal confirms plans that were earlier laid out by the US, PAP said, citing sources at the ministry, that the system could be partly based in Redzikowo, in northern Poland.

Redzikowo was to host part of the previously planned missile shield, which was to include a radar station in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptors in Poland.

The new missile shield would be mobile and would contain both surface and ground systems, as well as a stationary system in Poland based on SM-3 interceptor missiles, Slawomir Nowak, the head of the prime minister's chancellery, told PAP.

Russia said that the earlier system could have been used to target its own nuclear arsenal. The US had assured the military base was for protection against 'rogue states' like Iran.