Poland Gets U.S. Military Aid in Missile-Shield Deal (Update1)

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Poland won a U.S. pledge to help improve its defenses in exchange for basing 10 American interceptor missiles on its territory, an agreement reached amid heightened concerns about Russia's threat to its neighbors.

``We are now harvesting the fruit of many months of hard work,'' Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at a news conference in Warsaw yesterday with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Rood after the preliminary accord was reached. ``Only people of ill intent should fear this agreement.''

Talks on locating part of the planned missile-defense shield in Poland made headway after Russia's attacks on Georgia highlighted the vulnerability of former Soviet republics and satellite states in eastern Europe.

The Russian incursion ``made the Polish government a little more willing to conclude a deal,'' said Wade Boese, research director at the Arms Control Association, a non-partisan group in Washington. ``It may also have made the Bush administration more willing to meet the Polish demands.''

According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the U.S. agreed to initially station one battery of Patriot air-defense missiles on Polish soil with potentially more to follow. This would be good news for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co., the top contractors on the Patriot missile program.

The U.S. also agreed to a ``commitment for both states to come to each other's assistance in case of military threats,'' Sikorski said.

White House View

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the purpose of the shield ``is to protect our European allies from any rogue threats such as a missile from Iran'' and ``in no way is the missile defense aimed at Russia.''

Perino said she ``couldn't say'' whether Russia's attacks in Georgia spurred final action on the agreement.

Poland and the U.S. have been holding talks on establishing an American base in Poland for more than 18 months. While the U.S. signed a final agreement last month with the Czech Republic on locating a radar base there, the Polish government held out for additional security assurances.

The Polish government said before the current round of missile-defense talks that the Georgian conflict had underscored its arguments in favor of more security guarantees.

Sikorski confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called off a visit to Warsaw, planned for next month. He said he received the information before an agreement was reached with Rood and that he thought the Russian decision had been made ``in connection with Georgia.'' Polish President Lech Kaczynski traveled to Tbilisi this week in a show of solidarity with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili.

Russian Criticism

Russia has criticized U.S. plans to place elements of the defense shield in the two former Soviet satellite states, saying they threatened its national security. The Russian government has repeatedly warned it would build up military defenses along its frontiers if the project went ahead.

Alexander Rahr, program director for Russia and Eurasia at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said Russia's war with Georgia over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia was partly due to Moscow government anger over U.S. missile-defense plans.

``The Russians will now feel that what they have done in South Ossetia was right,'' Rahr said in an interview.

Asked if Russia was likely to take any concrete steps in response to the U.S.-Polish missile-defense deal, Rahr said ``there is very little Russia can do in practice.''

Kaliningrad Missiles

``They have threatened to station new ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad but this would only harm their relations'' with Europe and the Caucasus, he said. Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

Sikorski said he will talk to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice next week to find a date for signing a final treaty, which also has to be ratified by the Polish parliament. If completed, the agreement will allow for the deployment of 10, two-stage missile interceptors made by Orbital Sciences Corp., based in Dulles, Virginia.

The missile shield may still encounter resistance from U.S. lawmakers. Congress, controlled by Democrats, has mandated that the interceptors' effectiveness be proven through tests and that the Polish and Czech parliaments approve the deals before U.S. funding for the programs is approved, Boese said.

``We're still talking a number of years before any interceptors can actually be deployed, and in the meantime you're going to have a new administration that could rethink the whole plan,'' Boese said.

The Pentagon wants to start construction in Poland by July next year in order to have an initial capability to defend against Iranian missiles by April 2012, according to U.S. Missile Defense Agency briefing charts.

Rahr warned that the U.S.-Polish missile deal may harm security relations between Russia and the U.S.

``It will be hard to return to the former strategic partnership with the U.S.,'' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Andrusz in Warsaw at kandrusz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.