Poland receives US Patriot missile battery

May 24, 2010, 15:19 GMT

Warsaw - A US Patriot missile battery has arrived in Poland to be stationed at a military base and provide training to Polish soldiers, the US embassy in Warsaw said Monday.

'An American Patriot Air and Missile Defense Battery arrived on Sunday at Morag, home of the 16th Mechanized Battalion of the Polish Land Forces, located in north-east Poland,' the embassy said in a statement. The mission in Poland was to conduct joint training and exercises with the Polish air defence, the embassy added.

The battery comes after Poland's parliament approved in February an agreement that specifies conditions for the stationing of US soldiers as part of revamped plans for a US missile shield.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) gives the green light for some 100 US soldiers to be stationed in Poland as part of the shield, which will include Patriot missiles and SM-3s.

Russia has been critical of the US-Polish agreement, which places the missiles in Morag, a town some 60 kilometres from Kaliningrad, Russia.

US President Barack Obama announced on September 17 that the US would drop former president George W Bush's plans for a long-range system in favor of a short-and medium-range system to counter Iran's ballistic missile programme. It was agreed that Poland would still get the Patriot missile battery.

The battery will be manned by some 100-150 US soldiers, who will be based in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Officials will unveil the battery at an official ceremony Wednesday.