U.S. tells Poland it could host new interceptors
* NATO member Poland could host SM-3 interceptors, says U.S.
* Poland hopes to host Patriot battery soon
By Gareth Jones
WARSAW, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official told Poland on Friday it could be one of the sites for interceptors envisaged under President Barack Obama's revised plans for missile defence in Europe.
Poland and the Czech Republic are still smarting from Obama's decision to shelve a Bush-era plan to install elements of a missile shield on their territory to protect against possible long-range missile attacks by Iran.
Under the new project, Washington will first deploy sea-based interceptors and then in a second phase deploy land-based systems involving SM-3 interceptors targeting short and medium-range missiles.
"Poland could host one of two land-based SM-3 sites, with of course the agreement of the Polish government," U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow told reporters.
Vershbow briefed Polish officials on the details of the new strategy, which is meant to be more flexible than the Bush plan and to partly address Russia's concerns about the deployment of permanent long-range interceptors close to its territory.
"(The Americans) presented very detailed information about the architecture of the European part of the system," Polish Undersecretary of State for Defence Stanislaw Komorowski said.
"(The new system) is more efficient when it comes to today's threats and those which will appear in the coming years."
The key concern for NATO member Poland has been not so much the kind of missile system deployed as the implicit U.S. commitment to its defence implied by the stationing of U.S. military hardware on its soil.
Some officials in Poland and the Czech Republic have expressed concern that Moscow, increasingly assertive in foreign and security policy, might interpret Obama's decision to ditch Bush's missile defence shield as a sign of weakness.
PATRIOTS
Many Poles, in particular, still view Russia, its communist-era overlord, as a potential security threat, especially after last year's conflict in Georgia.
In that vein, Komorowski confirmed plans to bring a U.S. battery of Patriot missiles to Poland in the near future.
"They will be armed and equipped with elements allowing for integration with Polish defence systems," he said.
Under the Patriot deal, agreed in August 2008, the battery -- armed with about 100 missiles -- will be based in Poland for a short period each year until 2011 to enable training and preparation of Polish troops and defence systems.
A battery would be permanently stationed in Poland from 2012, Komorowski told Reuters earlier this year.
Polish and U.S. officials are currently trying to conclude a status of forces (SOFA) agreement regulating legal aspects of any deployment of U.S. military personnel in Poland.
The Dziennik daily said on Friday the two sides could reach agreement as early as next week, just before the planned visit to Warsaw on Wednesday of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Although Russia initially welcomed Obama's scrapping of the Bush-era plans for missile defence, which it had seen as a possible attempt to neutralise its own vast nuclear arsenal, it has grown increasingly worried about what may replace them.
On Thursday, Moscow expressed concern about U.S. talks with Poland's neighbour Ukraine on the use of radar stations there.
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