BMD In Poland, Romania

This week has been an eventful one for the United States' missile defense efforts in Europe. This morning, the State Department released the following announcement:

The United States and Poland are pleased to jointly announce that the Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement of 2008 and its Amending Protocol of 2010 on deployment of the land-based SM-3 system within Poland has entered into force, effective September 15, 2011. The U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense system will be located at Redzikowo Base as a part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defense in the 2018 timeframe. This base represents a significant contribution by our two nations to a future NATO missile defense capability.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi signed an "Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Romania on the Deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania." According to a department fact sheet:

This Agreement calls for the establishment and operation of a U.S. land-based SM-3 ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Romania. The deployment to Romania is anticipated to occur in the 2015 timeframe as part of the second phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA). In addition to deepening the bilateral strategic relationship between our two countries, cooperation in this area will make a substantial contribution to NATO's collective security and will be an integral part of a NATO missile defense capability.