Poland’s government signed a contract with the U.S. for the first phase of a Patriot missile defense system to soothe the NATO member’s concerns over Russia’s assertive stance in the region.

According to the deal, valued at $4.75 billion, Patriot producer Raytheon Co. will in 2022 start deliveries of equipment, including PAC-3 MSE rockets and the IBCS communication system. Poland will seek to buy more batteries and plans to start talks with the U.S. on the next phase of the system next month.

“It’s a historic moment,” President Andrzej Duda said. “We’re fitting Polish army with the most advanced defense system in the world.”

Warsaw is concerned over Russia’s increasingly assertive policy toward eastern Europe, whose countries used to be under Kremlin control during Soviet times but have since mostly joined the European Union as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Poland, which shares a border with a Russian enclave, had U.S. troops stationed on its territory and sees the missile system as a step toward strengthening the military alliance’s eastern flank.

On March 23, Poland signed two offset deals with Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp. to boost involvement of Polish companies in return for buying the U.S. defense technology. The 10-year service deal with Raytheon is worth 224.1 million zloty and a deal with Lockheed Martin for servicing missile installations and maintenance of F-16 planes is worth 724.8 million zloty, according to a statement by the Polish Defense Ministry. </s> WARSAW, Poland -- Poland signed a $4.75 billion deal with the United States Wednesday to buy air defense Patriot missile systems as it seeks to bolster its defenses against a resurgent Russia. President Andrzej Duda described the deal for the state-of-the-art anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems as "historic" for his country and its armed forces.

"It's a lot of money, but we also know from our historical experience that security has no price," Duda said.

The defense deal is Poland's largest in almost 30 years. It comes as tensions soar between Moscow and the West over a nerve agent attack in Britain and Russia's meddling in foreign politics -- including the 2016 U.S. presidential election -- Poland's Patriots purchase will be yet another sore point. Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said last year that deployments of the Patriot system in Eastern Europe were part of a U.S. plan to surround Russia with missile defenses "under the pretext of mythical threats to security."

In February, President Vladimir Putin touted new weapons in Russia's nuclear arsenal, including a new intercontinental ballistic missile which he claimed could hit anywhere in the world, and evade U.S.-built missile defenses.
• None Did Saudis really shoot down missiles with Patriot defense system? 



The system, made by Raytheon Co., is compatible with technology used by NATO and U.S. troops based in Poland, Duda said. It includes 16 launchers, four radars and the latest fire control system.

Parts of the system will be made in Poland, a boost for the country's armaments industry.

U.S. Ambassador Paul Jones called the deal a milestone that brings the NATO member into a family of 15 countries that rely on the Patriot system for their airspace security.

"We are allies forever," Jones said in fluent Polish.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said the Patriot system will increase security in Poland and the surrounding region in an "unprecedented way."

On NATO's eastern flank, Poland is upgrading its defense systems and modernizing its military to reach the highest Western standards after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak signed the document at an armaments plant in Warsaw. </s> WARSAW (REUTERS) - Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday (March 28), agreeing with the United States to buy Raytheon Co's Patriot missile defence system for US$4.75 billion in a major step to modernise its forces against a bolder Russia.

"It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland's introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means," President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony.

NATO member Poland has accelerated efforts to overhaul its ageing weaponry following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the resurgence of Russian military and political assertiveness towards its neighbours.

Two-thirds of Polish weaponry dates from the 20th century Cold War era when the country was in the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Russian officials were not immediately available to comment.

Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov told the state-run Sputnik news website in November that Patriot deployments were part of a US plot to surround Russia with missile defence systems "under the pretext of mythical threats to security".

The Patriot deal follows Monday's expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats by the United States and a score of other Western countries including Poland in response to a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian spy in Britain, the most sweeping action against Moscow since the heights of the Cold War.

This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a US-built missile shield.

The Patriot deal came as a relief for Poland amid a rise in tension with Washington, its main NATO ally, over legislation that Warsaw introduced in January to impose jail terms for any suggestion of Poland's complicity in the Nazi Holocaust.

The United States says the bill subverts freedom of speech and Israeli officials say it amounts to Holocaust denial, an accusation that Poland's nationalist-minded government rejects.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the Patriot agreement showed "solidarity and cooperation" with the United States and other NATO countries. "We, through our activities, our procurements, show that we want to feel an integral part of this most important military alliance," he said.

Wednesday's deal is for the delivery in 2022 of two Patriot system batteries manufactured by Raytheon, each coming with two fire units consisting of one sector AN/MPQ-65 radar and four M903 launchers.

Warsaw is negotiating with Washington to buy more Patriot systems, a new 360-degree radar and a low-cost interceptor missile as part of a second phase of military modernisation.

"We do expect that Poland will move pretty quickly with Phase II. They have a stated desire to complete that by the end of the year," Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, told Reuters by telephone ahead of the signing.

Air defences are particularly crucial for Poland and neighbouring Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - former Soviet republics that are now NATO member states.

NATO planners say Russia is using its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad as well as Crimea to pursue what is known as an "anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy", with surface-to-air missiles to block off NATO's air access, if needed, to the Baltic states, about a third of Poland and to the Black Sea.

Warsaw's decision may raise pressure on Washington to meet Baltic requests for stronger air defences. While the Baltics are seeking their own missile defences, the high cost for their small economies makes any quick purchases difficult.

Raytheon's Kremer said the current threat environment had increased demand for missile defence systems and US President Donald Trump's administration was working hard to accelerate sales of such weapons to allied countries.

"In general, they're more open to expediting and getting these deals worked," Kremer said.

Fourteen other countries, including six NATO members, have the Patriot missile systems. Romania agreed in November to buy Patriots and the US government has also approved the sale of the weapons system to Sweden.

Poland's deal, approved in November by the US State Department, envisaged a sale worth up to US$10.5 billion. But Warsaw has been able to bring the price down by opting for a less ambitious IBCS (Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System) and procuring some elements locally.

"We are getting to the front row of countries which will be able not only to cooperate and jointly carry out tasks with the United States and NATO, but will be also perceived on (NATO's) eastern flank as ...stronger than others," General Leszek Surawski, the Polish military's chief of staff, told reporters after the signing ceremony. </s> WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday, agreeing with the United States to buy Raytheon Co's <RTN.N> Patriot missile defense system for $4.75 billion in a major step to modernize its forces against a bolder Russia.

"It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland's introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means," President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony.

NATO member Poland has accelerated efforts to overhaul its ageing weaponry following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Two-thirds of Poland's weaponry dates from the Cold War era when it was in the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov told state-run Sputnik news website in November that Patriot deployments were part of a U.S. plot to surround Russia with missile defense systems "under the pretext of mythical threats to security".

The Patriot deal follows Monday's expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats by the United States and a score of other Western countries including Poland in response to a the poisoning of a Russian former spy in Britain.

This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.

The Patriot deal came as a relief for Poland amid tension with Washington over a law Warsaw introduced in January imposing jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust.

The United States says the bill subverts freedom of speech and Israeli officials say it amounts to Holocaust denial, an accusation that Poland's nationalist government rejects.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the Patriot agreement showed "solidarity and cooperation" with the United States and other NATO countries.

Wednesday's deal is for the delivery in 2022 of two Patriot batteries manufactured by Raytheon, each with two fire units.

Warsaw is negotiating with Washington to buy more Patriots, a new 360-degree radar and a low-cost interceptor missile as part of a second phase of modernization.

"We do expect that Poland will move pretty quickly with Phase II. They have a stated desire to complete that by the end of the year," Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, told Reuters by telephone.

Air defenses are particularly important for Poland and neighboring Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

NATO planners say Russia is using its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad as well as Crimea to pursue the capability to block off NATO's air access to the Baltic states, about a third of Poland and to the Black Sea.

Warsaw's decision may raise pressure on Washington to meet Baltic requests for stronger air defenses. While the Baltics are seeking their own missile defenses, the high cost for their small economies makes any quick purchases difficult.

Raytheon's Kremer said the current threat environment had increased demand for missile defense systems and the Donald Trump administration was working to accelerate sales to allies.

"In general, they're more open to expediting and getting these deals worked," Kremer said.

Fourteen other countries, including six NATO members, have the Patriot missile. Romania agreed in November to buy Patriots and the U.S. government has also approved sales to Sweden. Switzerland last week announced it was also looking at the Patriot among other systems in a competition expected to kick off later this year.

Raytheon hopes the Polish purchase could provide fresh momentum for its bid to supply a more modern Patriot system to Germany, which has not yet signed a contract for the rival MEADS system built by Lockheed Martin <LMT.N> and European missile maker MBDA, three years after it picked MEADS over Patriot.

Kremer said changing course and expanding its existing Patriot systems would make it easier for Germany to work jointly with other Patriot users in NATO, although MEADS supporters say the system is intended to be able to integrate other components.

Poland's deal, approved in November by the U.S. State Department, envisaged a sale worth up to $10.5 billion. But Warsaw brought the price down by opting for a less ambitious command system and procuring some elements locally.

"We are getting to the front row of countries which will be able not only to cooperate and jointly carry out tasks with the United States and NATO, but will be also perceived on (NATO's) eastern flank as ... stronger than others," General Leszek Surawski, the Polish military's chief of staff, said after the signing ceremony. </s> Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and U.S. Ambassador to Poland Paul W. Jones attend the signing ceremony for a deal to buy Raytheon Co's Patriot missile defence system in Warsaw, Poland, March 28, 2018. Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski/ via REUTERS
• Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday.
• The Patriot deal came as a relief for Poland amid tension with the US.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday, agreeing with the United States to buy Raytheon Co's Patriot missile defense system for $4.75 billion in a major step to modernize its forces against a bolder Russia.

"It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland's introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means," President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony.

NATO member Poland has accelerated efforts to overhaul its ageing weaponry following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Two-thirds of Poland's weaponry dates from the Cold War era when it was in the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov told state-run Sputnik news website in November that Patriot deployments were part of a U.S. plot to surround Russia with missile defense systems "under the pretext of mythical threats to security".

The Patriot deal follows Monday's expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats by the United States and a score of other Western countries including Poland in response to a the poisoning of a Russian former spy in Britain.

This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.

The Patriot deal came as a relief for Poland amid tension with Washington over a law Warsaw introduced in January imposing jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust.

The United States says the bill subverts freedom of speech and Israeli officials say it amounts to Holocaust denial, an accusation that Poland's nationalist government rejects.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the Patriot agreement showed "solidarity and cooperation" with the United States and other NATO countries.

Wednesday's deal is for the delivery in 2022 of two Patriot batteries manufactured by Raytheon, each with two fire units.

Warsaw is negotiating with Washington to buy more Patriots, a new 360-degree radar and a low-cost interceptor missile as part of a second phase of modernization.

"We do expect that Poland will move pretty quickly with Phase II. They have a stated desire to complete that by the end of the year," Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, told Reuters by telephone.

Air defenses are particularly important for Poland and neighboring Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

NATO planners say Russia is using its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad as well as Crimea to pursue the capability to block off NATO's air access to the Baltic states, about a third of Poland and to the Black Sea.

Warsaw's decision may raise pressure on Washington to meet Baltic requests for stronger air defenses. While the Baltics are seeking their own missile defenses, the high cost for their small economies makes any quick purchases difficult.

Raytheon's Kremer said the current threat environment had increased demand for missile defense systems and the Donald Trump administration was working to accelerate sales to allies.

"In general, they're more open to expediting and getting these deals worked," Kremer said.

Fourteen other countries, including six NATO members, have the Patriot missile. Romania agreed in November to buy Patriots and the U.S. government has also approved sales to Sweden. Switzerland last week announced it was also looking at the Patriot among other systems in a competition expected to kick off later this year.

Raytheon hopes the Polish purchase could provide fresh momentum for its bid to supply a more modern Patriot system to Germany, which has not yet signed a contract for the rival MEADS system built by Lockheed Martin and European missile maker MBDA, three years after it picked MEADS over Patriot.

Kremer said changing course and expanding its existing Patriot systems would make it easier for Germany to work jointly with other Patriot users in NATO, although MEADS supporters say the system is intended to be able to integrate other components.

Poland's deal, approved in November by the U.S. State Department, envisaged a sale worth up to $10.5 billion. But Warsaw brought the price down by opting for a less ambitious command system and procuring some elements locally.

"We are getting to the front row of countries which will be able not only to cooperate and jointly carry out tasks with the United States and NATO, but will be also perceived on (NATO's) eastern flank as ... stronger than others," General Leszek Surawski, the Polish military's chief of staff, said after the signing ceremony. </s> Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption The Patriot system is intended to defend against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles

Poland has signed an agreement to buy the Patriot missile defence system from the US, in a move that is likely to anger Russia.

President Andrzej Duda said the "historic" $4.75bn (£3.4bn) deal gave Poland "state-of-the-art" defences.

It follows reports that Russia had permanently deployed nuclear-capable missile systems in its territory of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland.

Ties between Poland, a Nato member, and Russia remain strained.

Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 has prompted Warsaw to speed up its military modernisation.

Earlier this week, Poland was one of many countries that expelled Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack in the UK on 4 March.

Moscow denies any involvement in poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the southern English city of Salisbury.

So, what about the missile deal?

The largest weapons agreement in Polish history was signed at a ceremony in Warsaw on Wednesday.

Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the Patriot missile defence system had "proven itself in numerous countries".

He added that his country was now "joining an elite group of states which have an efficient weapon that guarantees security".

Much of Poland's military equipment currently dates back to the era when communist Poland was in the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.

The first deliveries are expected in 2022.

This comes as the US is developing its controversial anti-missile shield in Europe.

In 2016, America activated a land-based missile defence station in Romania, and a similar base is being built in Poland.

Russia has repeatedly warned that the shield undermines its strategic nuclear deterrent.

What is Patriot?

It is an advanced surface-to-air missile system designed to defend against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.

The system, produced by US defence company Raytheon, is used by the US and a number of its Nato allies. </s> Poland has signed the largest military arms deal in its history, work 4.75 billion, in a bid to modernize its military hardware, citing the Russian annexation of Crimea as its reason.

With most of its current hardware dating back to the Cold War, they are in a rush to get some newer, more hip stuff to show not only Russia that they mean business, but also to the rest of Europe that they fully intend to invest their taxpayer’s money into American global interests to a greater degree than any other NATO member in the region. Reuters reports:

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday, agreeing with the United States to buy Raytheon Co’s (RTN.N) Patriot missile defense system for $4.75 billion in a major step to modernize its forces against a bolder Russia.

“It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland’s introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means,” President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony.

NATO member Poland has accelerated efforts to overhaul its ageing weaponry following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. Two-thirds of Poland’s weaponry dates from the Cold War era when it was in the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov told state-run Sputnik news website in November that Patriot deployments were part of a U.S. plot to surround Russia with missile defense systems “under the pretext of mythical threats to security”.

The Patriot deal follows Monday’s expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats by the United States and a score of other Western countries including Poland in response to a the poisoning of a Russian former spy in Britain.

This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.

The Patriot deal came as a relief for Poland amid tension with Washington over a law Warsaw introduced in January imposing jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust.

The United States says the bill subverts freedom of speech and Israeli officials say it amounts to Holocaust denial, an accusation that Poland’s nationalist government rejects.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the Patriot agreement showed “solidarity and cooperation” with the United States and other NATO countries.

Wednesday’s deal is for the delivery in 2022 of two Patriot batteries manufactured by Raytheon, each with two fire units.

Warsaw is negotiating with Washington to buy more Patriots, a new 360-degree radar and a low-cost interceptor missile as part of a second phase of modernization.

“We do expect that Poland will move pretty quickly with Phase II. They have a stated desire to complete that by the end of the year,” Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, told Reuters by telephone.

Air defenses are particularly important for Poland and neighboring Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

NATO planners say Russia is using its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad as well as Crimea to pursue the capability to block off NATO’s air access to the Baltic states, about a third of Poland and to the Black Sea.

Warsaw’s decision may raise pressure on Washington to meet Baltic requests for stronger air defenses. While the Baltics are seeking their own missile defenses, the high cost for their small economies makes any quick purchases difficult.

Raytheon’s Kremer said the current threat environment had increased demand for missile defense systems and the Donald Trump administration was working to accelerate sales to allies.

“In general, they’re more open to expediting and getting these deals worked,” Kremer said.

Fourteen other countries, including six NATO members, have the Patriot missile. Romania agreed in November to buy Patriots and the U.S. government has also approved sales to Sweden. Switzerland last week announced it was also looking at the Patriot among other systems in a competition expected to kick off later this year.

Raytheon hopes the Polish purchase could provide fresh momentum for its bid to supply a more modern Patriot system to Germany, which has not yet signed a contract for the rival MEADS system built by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and European missile maker MBDA, three years after it picked MEADS over Patriot.

Kremer said changing course and expanding its existing Patriot systems would make it easier for Germany to work jointly with other Patriot users in NATO, although MEADS supporters say the system is intended to be able to integrate other components.

Poland’s deal, approved in November by the U.S. State Department, envisaged a sale worth up to $10.5 billion. But Warsaw brought the price down by opting for a less ambitious command system and procuring some elements locally.

“We are getting to the front row of countries which will be able not only to cooperate and jointly carry out tasks with the United States and NATO, but will be also perceived on (NATO’s) eastern flank as … stronger than others,” General Leszek Surawski, the Polish military’s chief of staff, said after the signing ceremony. </s> Poland's Development Ministry said late on Tuesday that the negotiating position of the two sides on the purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters for 13.5 billion zlotys (3.14 billion euros) was "so different that further talks are pointless."

The collapse of talks also shelves a major offset deal agreed under the previous Polish government.

The ministry said that offers made by Airbus Helicopters had "failed to properly secure Poland's economic and security interests." Polish officials had earlier indicated that the value of the deal should match the value of the purchase.

Offset agreements - where the seller of a product or service agrees to invest in sectors or goods on the buyer's side to compensate or enhance the value of the deal - are common in the military industry.

The decision to buy the helicopters from Airbus was made by the previous government, led by the center-right, pro-European party Civic Platform, as part of plans to modernize the military over the next 10 years, spending about 35 billion euros, and was triggered by regional tensions over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

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The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government had indicated it might cancel the deal after it won elections last year. Local media reported that Warsaw had actually scrapped the deal earlier this year, although Airbus said talks were continuing.

The original deal was criticized by trade unions in two Polish aviation plants linked to firms that were not chosen in the initial tender: one linked to the US producer of the Black Hawk, the other to a British-Italian consortium AgustaWestland, now called Leonardo Helicopters, which makes the AW149 helicopter.

A system by the Eurosam consortium - including MBDA France, MBDA Italy and France's Thales Group - was also in the running alongside US company Raytheon's Patriot system for the deal.

The Defense Ministry had wanted to buy eight missile batteries by 2025, with two to be delivered within three years of signing the contract. Poland had originally said it would buy 70 helicopters but reduced this to 50.

Poland's parliamentary committee of national defense in January approved a defense budget for 2016 of PLN35.9 billion (euro xxx), a rise of 9.4% over 2015, with the country increasing its annual budget by PLN2.9 billion as it commits to spending 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense - NATO's guideline amount.

jbh/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters) </s> WARSAW (Reuters) - Technical problems will delay the completion of the Polish section of a U.S. defence shield by two years to 2020, Poland’s defence ministry said on Thursday.

The anti-missile site close to Poland’s northern Baltic Sea coast is part of a NATO defensive umbrella that, when complete, will stretch from Greenland to the Azores.

Poland’s defence ministry said U.S. authorities had told it there had been construction delays at the Redzikowo site that were the responsibility of the contractor.

The U.S. head of the U.S. Missile Defence Agency (MDA), Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, acknowledged the delay at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday.

The MDA, a unit of the U.S. Defence Department, is overseeing installation of the Lockheed Martin Co -made ground-based Aegis ballistic missile defence system.

“While we have experienced delays in the military construction portion of the Aegis Ashore effort in Poland, we remain steadfastly committed to delivery of that capability,” Greaves said.

Officials from the U.S.-led NATO alliance, who took control of the umbrella in 2016, have said the whole system is supposed to defend against attacks by states such as Iran and groups such as al Qaeda.

But the scheme has angered Russia, incensed by the show of force by its old Cold War rival in formerly communist Eastern Europe.

Poland’s former defence minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, from the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, said the delay was meant as a political rebuke to the current government.

“This is the price for the ... lack of trust in PiS (the ruling conservative Law and Justice party),” Siemoniak told Reuters.

Washington sharply criticised a bill that Poland adopted in January that imposes jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, saying it was concerned about the repercussions it could have “on Poland’s strategic interests and relationships”.

Siemoniak said that “in the context of the (Holocaust bill), the lack of trust has deepened ... ‘Technical reasons’ are just a pretext to postpone it until the year 2020. I am convinced that the situation is a result of the deterioration of the allied relations.”

Bartosz Cichocki, a deputy foreign minister, told the PAP state news agency that there was no crisis in Polish-American relations and that the U.S. had informed Poland about the potential delay “weeks before” the Holocaust law was adopted.

As part of the shield, the United States switched on an $800 million site in Romania in May 2016 and broke ground at the site in Poland later that year.

The full shield also includes ships and radar installations across Europe, with command and control run from a U.S. air base in Germany. </s> WARSAW, Poland (AP) — American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream some Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia.

Some people waved and held up American flags as U.S. troops in tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland from Germany and headed toward the town of Zagan, where they will be based. Poland’s prime minister and defense minister will welcome them in an official ceremony Saturday.

“This is the fulfilment of a dream,” said Michal Baranowski, director of the German Marshall Fund think tank in Warsaw. “And this is not just a symbolic presence but one with a real capability.”

U.S. and other Western nations have carried out exercises on NATO’s eastern flank in past years, but the new deployment — which includes some 3,500 U.S. troops — marks the first-ever continuous deployment to the region by a NATO ally.

It is part of a larger commitment by President Barack Obama to protect a region that grew deeply nervous when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then began backing separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east.

There are fears, however, that the enhanced security could eventually be undermined by the pro-Kremlin views of President-elect Donald Trump.

Poland and the Baltic states also feel threatened by Russia’s recent deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania.

But Russia says it’s the one who is threatened.

“These actions threaten our interests, our security,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s not even a European state.”

Worries about the permanence of the new U.S. security commitments are rooted in a tragic national history in which Poland has often lost out in deals made by the great powers.

Poles still feel betrayed by Obama’s “reset” with Russia early on in his administration, which involved abandoning plans for a major U.S. missile defense system in Poland and replacing it with plans for a less ambitious system, still not in place.

“All recent U.S. presidents have thought there can be a grand bargain with Russia,” said Marcin Zaborowski, a senior associate at Visegrad Insight, an analytic journal on Central Europe. “Trump has a proclivity to make deals, and Central and Eastern Europe have reason to worry about that.”

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski expressed hope this week that any new effort at reconciliation with Russia “does not happen at our expense.”

The armored brigade combat team arriving in Poland hails from Fort Carson, Colorado. The troops arrived last week in Germany and are gathering in Poland before units will fan out across seven countries from Estonia to Bulgaria. A headquarters unit will be stationed in Germany. After nine months they will be replaced by another unit.

In a separate but related mission, NATO will also deploy four battalions to its eastern flank later this year, one each to Poland and the three Baltic states. The U.S. will also lead one of those battalions.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

 Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Poland signs a deal with the United States to buy a US$4.75 billion Patriot missile system.