Aegis Ashore Poland enters maintenance period ahead of NATO acceptance

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy, which took over the Aegis Ashore system in Poland after a five-year delay, immediately moved the system into an upgrade and maintenance effort.

The Aegis Ashore system, meant to offer regional missile defense for Europe, has been operational in Deveslu, Romania since 2016 , but the Missile Defense Agency struggled to reach operational capability at the second Aegis Ashore site in Redzikowo, Poland, because of construction issues .

Nearly a year ago, then-MDA director Vice Adm. Jon Hill reported those issues were behind MDA , telling reporters the agency was conducting combat system installation and testing. The testing continued through the summer and fall, and the Navy formally accepted the system on Dec. 15, 2023.

The official transfer to NATO is now expected to occur in the spring or summer this year, according to a U.S. Naval Forces Europe/U.S. Sixth Fleet spokesperson.

Now, Aegis Ashore is undergoing maintenance and upgrades. Capt. Raphael Castillejo, the ship integration program manager at the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I), told Defense News the system is receiving maintenance and modernization efforts similar to those made on Aegis Ashore Romania.

“Typically, these post-delivery modernization availabilities address C4I system upgrades and enhancements for equipment that was procured over five years prior to site completion and address obsolescence, new required capabilities and security enhancements,” he said.

For this Aegis Ashore system, upgrades include the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services network and computing infrastructure system and the Global Positioning Navigation and Timing System.

The maintenance period is expected to take four months, according to Castillejo.

The delays in reaching operational capability have resulted in increased costs. In fiscal year 2021, for example, MDA indicated it would need an extra $96 million in funding to maintain the Aegis weapon system at the site, to keep it protected and in temperature-controlled containers.

The MDA and U.S. Navy declined to say how much the delay has cost the program overall or the cost of the current maintenance and upgrade phase, citing an outstanding congressional inquiry.

Poland’s Aegis Ashore site is part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach to regional missile defense against threats from Iran and includes Aegis radar-capable ships based at Rota, Spain, an AN/TPY-2 radar in Turkey (operational since 2011) and the other Aegis Ashore site in Romania.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

华盛顿——美国海军在延迟五年后接管了波兰的陆基宙斯盾系统，并立即对该系统进行了升级和维护。

旨在为欧洲提供区域导弹防御的陆基宙斯盾系统自 2016 年以来一直在罗马尼亚德韦斯卢投入使用，但由于建设问题，导弹防御局在波兰雷济科沃的第二个陆基宙斯盾基地难以达到作战能力。

大约一年前，时任导弹防御局局长乔恩·希尔海军中将报告称，这些问题已经解决，并告诉记者，该机构正在进行作战系统的安装和测试。测试持续了整个夏季和秋季，海军于2023年12月15日正式接收了该系统。

据美国海军驻欧洲部队/美国第六舰队发言人称，正式移交给北约预计将于今年春季或夏季进行。

目前，“陆基宙斯盾”系统正在进行维护和升级。海军指挥、控制、通信、计算机和情报（C4I）项目执行办公室舰船集成项目经理拉斐尔·卡斯蒂列霍上校告诉《防务新闻》，该系统正在接受与“陆基宙斯盾”罗马尼亚版类似的维护和现代化改造。

“通常情况下，这些交付后现代化改造服务旨在对在现场竣工前五年内采购的设备进行 C4I 系统升级和增强，以解决设备过时、新增功能和安全增强等问题，”他说道。

对于这套陆基宙斯盾系统，升级内容包括：整合式舰载网络和企业服务网络及计算基础设施系统，以及全球定位导航和授时系统。

卡斯蒂列霍表示，维护期预计持续四个月。

作战能力的延迟交付导致成本增加。例如，在2021财年，导弹防御局表示需要额外9600万美元的资金来维护该基地的宙斯盾武器系统，以确保其安全并存放在温控集装箱内。

MDA 和美国海军拒绝透露此次延误给该项目整体造成了多少损失，也拒绝透露当前维护和升级阶段的成本，理由是国会正在进行调查。

波兰的陆基宙斯盾系统是欧洲分阶段适应性区域导弹防御方案的一部分，旨在应对来自伊朗的威胁。该方案包括位于西班牙罗塔的宙斯盾雷达舰艇、位于土耳其的 AN/TPY-2 雷达（自 2011 年起投入使用）以及位于罗马尼亚的另一个陆基宙斯盾系统。

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。