US Listening Post
Polish Missile Defense: The Bases In Poland And Not The Missiles Threaten Russia
Warsaw, Poland - 9 April, 2008 The ten interceptor missiles to be stationed in Poland as part of the European missile defense system were long ago acknowledged by the Russian military as not a threat to Russia's missile arsenal. It is what comes with the bases on Polish and Czech soils that concerns the Russians.
The bases do more than provide the locations to locate missiles that may be able to defend US/NATO assets in Europe and a radar to control the missile system.
They also:
- confirm that Poland and Czech are in fact no longer to be considered as part of Russia's near abroad,
- create a special military alliance, outside NATO, between the US and each of the countries,
- give the US the ability to look deep into Russian territory, and
- provide locations close to Russia for listening posts.
NATO membership has already created alliances and fixed that Czech and Poland are not part of the near abroad. Putting the bases in place simply, but emphatically, caps the T. And nothing will really change in relations between the countries and Russia.
But the new listening posts and radar in Eastern Europe are new to the US/Russian dynamic. It is not that such listening posts at radar stations are new. It is just that the locations are new.
In diplomatic speak, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Minister of Defense, reveals that he knows what will happen at the proposed installations. He has demanded that Russians be on the two bases at all times. He highlighted that Russia wants to be sure that the radar is not looking into Russian territory. And he justifies his need to have Russians in Poland by adding that he wants to know every second that the missiles do not pose a threat to Russia.
If the comments by Russian military officers count in the discussion, Lavrov knows that the missiles don't pose a threat to Russia. And they could likely actually benefit Russia if a rogue nation decides to launch, or threatens to launch, a nuclear missile. So his reasoning for having people in Poland is rather weak.
But his concerns about the radar and likely concerns about less sophisticated listen posts in Poland have validity. Building listening posts is just one of those things that the US does as a matter of course.
There is a radar located in Vardø in the north of Norway, approximately 80 km from the Russian border. The radar was developed as part of the NMD system, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Officially the role of the antenna is to track debris in space, but according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the real purpose is to monitor Russian nuclear missile launches. HAVE STARE (or Globus II as it is also called), is one of the most powerful radar antennas in the world. It gives the USA crucial information for the NMD program. http://www.indymedia.nl/en/2004/07/20429.shtml
Russia saw new listening posts comming. In an attempt to head them off, it offered that a radar installation in Azerbaijan be used instead of building one in Czech.
But the director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lieutenant General Henry Obering said, in what is considered by some as somewhat of an understatement, that the Russian radar is "not capable of performing the functions" of the American radar proposed for the Czech Republic.
Among other things, the Russian radar does not have the narrowly focused beam necessary for targeting and tracking individual missiles. Its wide beam is more useful as an early warning rather than a guidance system.
He did not mention, however, that the location would not allow for the US to do everything that it might want to do.
Though his meaning has likely been missed by most people, he put nothing past the Russians. They know, when it comes to military bases, there are three important things. Location, location and location.
And so does the US. It is the location and not the missiles or width of the radar beam that are most important.
