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ARLINGTON, Va. – The Aegis Ashore capability planned for Poland is expected to be operational by the end of next year, the program executive officer for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense said Nov. 19.
The Aegis Combat System was originally developed as a ship system to track and destroy incoming enemy targets, but the system was also used for land use as the “Aegis Ashore”.
An Aegis Ashore capability is already in operation in Deveselu, Romania, about 145 kilometers from Bucharest. The site, under the control of NATO, has been in operation for more than five years.
A location similar to that in Romania is also planned in Redzikowo, Poland, near the Baltic Sea. However, this site has been delayed due to construction issues, although efforts are currently being made to get the site up and running by the end of next year.
“My job of installing the Aegis weapon system has been delayed as we are working with our contractors on the military construction,” said Rear Adm. Tom Druggan during a discussion Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC Backlog, given the original schedule, no question. The good news is that we are getting the quality we want in a facility that will last 50 to 75 years and we now have the right management to move forward and complete that. â€
Over the summer, Druggan said, the Aegis system in Poland was taken out of storage and assembled there to test its operation.
“We … put the entire weapon system together except for the antennas,” he said. “We energized it. And the equipment had been in the containers for a while. We found a few issues – the good news is we fixed them. And then we upgraded, which saves time before future availability. This system is our most upgraded system today that can be installed immediately. ”
In an unusual move, Druggan said, the Aegis Ashore capability is now being built in Poland as the local infrastructure becomes available to support them. He said antennas for the AN / SPY radar system had already been set up.
“We’ll install the backbone of the radar behind it,” he said. “We have installed some systems. And we will continue to install our parts in parallel with the commissioning of all industrial equipment, electricity, cooling and ventilation that takes place on the construction site. ”
Normally, he said, an Aegis system would not be installed until all of the load-bearing structures were completed.
“I made a decision a long time ago that we wouldn’t wait,” he said. “We wanted to do what we could when we could based on the deckhouse conditions. This has proven to be a successful strategy. And now we have a good swing. ”
Druggan said he expects the Aegis Ashore site in Poland to be operational by the end of 2022, at which point the system can transition first to the Navy, then to the US European Command, and finally to NATO.
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