Rep. Michael R. Turner, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, released the following statement regarding press reports that the United States and Poland have signed protocol amending the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Agreement both countries signed in 2008.
"I commend the Polish Government for signing the additional protocol to enable Poland to host the Phased Adaptive Approach Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors to protect our deployed troops, defend European allies and augment the protection of the U.S. homeland by 2020. I hope that the Polish parliament will ratify the BMD Agreement with this additional protocol soon,” said Turner.
“While the Administration proceeds with the PAA, we will continue to press for a timely execution of the Administration’s hedging strategy. The House of Representatives, the Administration officials and Ballistic Missile Defense Review have all emphasized the value of maintaining the ground missile defense as a hedge, in case Iran develops missile capable of targeting the United States before the SM-3 sites are capable of defending our Nation.”
On May 28, 2010, U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan language approved by the House Armed Services Committee stating that it is the Unites States policy to continue the development and testing of the two-stage ground-based interceptor to maintain as a complement to the missile defense capabilities deployed in Alaska and California for the defense of the United States. Furthermore, GMD capability should be maintained it in case the missile threat materializes before the availability of the SM-3 interceptors or technical challenges or schedule delays that could affect any portion of the PAA plan.