Polish missile defence site to be developed by 2020: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
03.07.2018 08:40
The Polish section of a US missile defence shield over Europe will be completed by 2020, a US navy admiral has said, according to a report.
![Admiral James Foggo. Photo: U.S. Navy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://external.polskieradio.pl/files/c9c0f8e9-5c5e-43c9-aae4-a8baf35d1ddd.file "Admiral James Foggo. Photo: U.S. Navy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
Admiral James Foggo. Photo: U.S. Navy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
US Navy Admiral James Foggo, commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples, in late June visited the Ballistic Missile Defence Site at Redzikowo in northern Poland, where he met with planners, construction personnel, contractors and military representatives involved in the project, the jfcnaples.nato.int website has reported.
"We are making progress,” Foggo was quoted as saying while visiting the site.
He added: "Eventually, by 2020, this place will be turned over to the U.S. Naval Forces and we will bring it to life."
Work to build the Polish section of the US missile shield at Redzikowo, near the northern town of Słupsk, officially started in May 2016.
Once completed, the project “will be an essential part of a layered defence against ballistic missiles of all ranges to protect the United States, its deployed forces and NATO Allies,” NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples said on its website.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Bartosz Cichocki was quoted as saying in March that technical problems would delay the completion of the Polish section of the US defence shield by more than a year.
The project was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, according to public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency.
(gs)
Source: IAR, jfcnaples.nato.int, defence24.pl, navy.mil