Register for Email Updates
 
 

Login/Logout

*
*  
“The Arms Control Association and all of the staff I've worked with over the years … have this ability to speak truth to power in a wide variety of venues.”
– Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment
June 2, 2022
March 2024
Edition Date: 
Friday, March 1, 2024
Cover Image: 

Missile Defense System in Poland Could Be Operational by Summer


March 2024

The U.S. Navy has taken official control of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Poland with the aim of making the system fully functional under NATO command as early as this spring.

U.S. Navy and other personnel at the Aegis Ashore missile defense system facility under construction outside the town of Redzikowo, Poland, in June 2019. The facility could become fully operational this spring. (Photo by U.S. Navy Lt. Amy Forsythe, Public Affairs Officer, Naval Support Facility Redzikowo)The Aegis system was deployed to the Redzikowo Air Base in the north of Poland, about 93 miles from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and transferred to the control of the Navy on Dec. 15. The base originally was intended to begin operating in 2018, but the project experienced delays.

“The acceptance of the Aegis Ashore site in Poland, like its sister site in Romania, is an important step in our efforts to get [the system] ready to protect against the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles launched from Iran,” U.S. Naval Forces in Europe said in a Dec. 18 statement.

The system represents a significant development in NATO's missile defense capabilities. It is part of the structure to protect NATO allies from ballistic missile threats called the European Phased Adaptive Approach, which was conceived during the Obama administration.

The Aegis system is designed to detect enemy missile launches by using satellite systems. Once identified, Standard Missile-3 interceptors are launched from sea or land at the missile, destroying it in space.

The system in Poland is undergoing a planned maintenance period for upgrades and is expected to be fully integrated and operational under NATO command by the summer, the Navy said.

In addition to the Polish air base, the Aegis architecture includes a base in Romania, a radar facility in Turkey, a command center in Germany, and U.S. Navy ships.

According to BBC News, Russia has raised concerns about the Aegis site, arguing that the system in Europe threatens its strategic deterrence. At a press briefing last March, Vice Adm. Jon A. Hill, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, pushed back, saying that the Aegis system “is not designed to go after Russian missiles. It is really about outside of the European sphere.”—CHAD LAWHORN

Missile Defense System in Poland Could Be Operational by Summer 

Belarus Updating Nuclear Military Doctrine


March 2024

Belarus is in the process of adopting a new military doctrine that would allow for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin announced the decision at a meeting of the country’s Security Council on Jan. 16, saying that Belarus “will put forth a new military doctrine that for the first time provides for the use of nuclear weapons,” the Associated Press reported on Jan. 17.

At the same meeting, Aleksander Volfovich, the Security Council secretary, said that “statements by our neighbors, in particular Poland…forced us to strengthen” the military doctrine and that “the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus is intended to deter aggression from Poland, a NATO member,” AP reported.

In late April, the doctrine will go to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly for approval. The assembly works in parallel with the parliament, and its approval is needed before the doctrine becomes official, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Belarus pushed forward the new doctrine as neighboring Baltic states signed an agreement to reinforce their borders with Belarus and Russia.

“The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is considered an important measure of the preventive deterrence for potential adversaries from unleashing armed aggression against the Republic of Belarus,” Khrenin said at a briefing on Jan. 19, according to CNN.

In March 2023, as Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine intensified, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he could transfer tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, a close ally. By the end of the year, news reports suggested that the shipments were completed. (See ACT, May 2023.)

Since that time, Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko repeatedly has said that he would not hesitate to order the use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons if Belarus faced an act of aggression.—SHIZUKA KURAMITSU

Belarus Updating Nuclear Military Doctrine

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - March 2024