Regardless of whether the United States decides to move forward with its plan for a missile shield system in the Czech Republic and Poland, Warsaw still expects to receive the Patriot missile battery that was agreed upon as part of the deal signed in August with the US.

Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Stanisław Komorowski told Reuters the battery would be deployed in Poland this year.

“We expect the Patriot battery to be deployed on Polish soil by the end of 2009, as initially agreed with the Americans. This is important for Polish public opinion,” Komorowski told Reuters in an interview.

The Patriot missile battery was a key negotiating point for the Poles, who also wanted specific security cooperation guarantees and a promise to help upgrade Polish air defenses with, among other things, the Patriot battery.

According to Reuters, the deal calls for about 100 missiles to be based in Poland for a short period each year in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Komorowski said that from 2012 a US Patriot battery would be permanently based in the country.

“At present, we cannot afford to buy Patriot batteries because of budget constraints, but by 2013 we will consider starting to acquire that kind of theater missile defense system for our armed forces,” he said.

“Regardless of the decision [on missile defense], President Obama has said other cooperation with Poland, including strategic projects such as modernization of our armed forces, will definitely be continued,” Komorowski added.

Missile-shield doubts

On Tuesday new doubts were raised as to whether the planned US missile shield would be effective against an attack from countries such as Iran.

A joint US- and Russian-led panel of experts into the matter compiled a report stating that the shield would not effectively in stopping missiles from entering the Western airspace.

According to The Washington Post, this report, set to be published on Tuesday, “could further dampen the Obama administration's enthusiasm for a Bush administration plan to deploy radars and interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

There are more important things to worry about, the report says. “The much more urgent problem is to seek a resolution” of the Iranian nuclear crisis, The Washington Post quotes the report as reading. “That is a project on which the United States and Russia need to cooperate more closely.”