Poland wants to build its own missile defence system with help from France and Germany, the Polish press agency reported Saturday.
“We want it (missile defence system] to happen in cooperation with France, Germany and other our allies. NATO welcomes the initiatives of the countries to build up their joint defence capabilities. This is so-called smart defence,” Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told the agency.
The minister estimated the planned Polish missile defence system at $3-6 billion.
In early August, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said that Warsaw needed its own missile defence shield that would be a part of the NATO missile defence system.
The US scrapped plans in September 2010 for an anti-ballistic-missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Moscow welcomed the move, and Russia’s then president Dmitry Medvedev said later that Russia would drop plans to deploy Iskander-M tactical missiles in its Kaliningrad region, which borders NATO members, Poland and Lithuania.