Poland Wants Patriot Missiles

Poland plans to request U.S. Patriot air defense missiles in exchange for housing 10 interceptors as part of the Bush administration’s missile defense initiative, the Financial Times reported yesterday (see GSN, April 20).

The Patriot missiles would be used to defend against short- and medium-range missiles.  Their deployment in Poland would almost certainly anger neighboring Russia, which has made known its displeasure with Washington’s missile defense plans for Europe (see GSN, April 26).

To accept the missile interceptors, Warsaw in return wants “specific provisions” to enhance security in Poland, said Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga.  This would come in areas including “clear assessment of threats, the kind of installations (involved), the agreement over bases and installations itself and other issues referring to cooperation — defense and military cooperation,” she said.

Washington appeared cool to the Patriot request, the Times reported.

“Poland believes there could be additional threats to Polish security, so instead of jumping and talking about Patriots or other advanced systems, let’s have a rational and serious discussion about what those threats might be,” said Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried.  “You can’t jump from:  ‘Gee, we think we have a problem’ to:  ‘Patriot missiles are the answer.’  The Poles need to get their thinking together and then we will deal with this a step at a time.”

There also appears to be interest in Warsaw for a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, which would take down incoming missiles at higher altitudes than Patriots (Dombey/Cienski, Financial Times, April 29).

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