American Missile Shield For Europe?

AVON

Active member
Several years ago when President George W. Bush talked of a missile shield for Europe I asked, "why?" When President Putin objected to the missile shield being placed in Poland, knowing (SEE NOTE) how sensitive Russia is about potential enemies being close to their borders again, is the USA trying to irritate Russia, why? The shield was originally said to be to counter ballistic missiles launched by Iran against targets in Europe. If one looks at a globe, from the middle of Iran to different points in Europe it can be seen that the shield 'could be' effective to protect against a limited attack on countries such as Poland, parts of Germany, the very northern parts of France, the U.K., some of the Baltic states, etc. Any of the European countries that border the Mediterranean Sea would not be protected by this shield.
NOTE;
The missile shield would have little effect against the Russian military. The missile sites could easily destroy by cruise missiles plus, the shield would also have very little effect against an attack designed to saturate the defense.

I read in "Defense Industry Daily" E-news had a news brief that now, President Obama is going ahead to deploy the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) to the Mediterranean next week as 1st component of European missile defense shield. Some European navies have their equivalent of the aegis warships, why can't they perform this mission. If they need technical assistance, the USA could provide the assistance if the countries are willing to pay the USA for this help. In these times of tight budgets, why doesn't the USA mandate that such services be paid for?
Finally, I would like to ask a silly question, "does anyone here know of any European countries are paying for any part of this missile defense shield?" Now, the UAE’s $9 billion request for Patriot missiles, and other recent initiatives, it would appear that the UAE is taking strong steps to beef up its defensive and surveillance capabilities. At least USA has at least one ally that is willing to pay cash for what they receive in military assistance.
 
MONTEREY is based in Norfolk, and would deploy to the Med anyway. The ballistic missile defense (BMD) capability is something we're working very hard to develop in all theaters, and certainly not just to babysit our allies. Nothing to see here.
 
Any thought about the shield in Poland?? If it is valid, are the Europeans paying for it?
 
From what I remember, the Poland shield is being replaced by Navy ships and some other installations that I shouldn't go into; not sure how much is public knowledge
 
If I'm not mistaken is the first location of the missile shield (Poland) abandoned and moved to southern Europe (Turkey). I don't know if this shield is US or NATO.
 
There was a similar shield for Canada in the 1950's, which was one of the final nails in the coffin of the Canadian designed and built AVRO Arrow. Some said it offered less protection then it was designed to do.
 
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