Drone approaches US missile defence base in Poland

A civilian drone flew in the immediate vicinity of the US missile defence base housing the Aegis Ashore system in Redzikowo, northern Poland.

Poland’s Defence Ministry clarified that the civilian unmanned aerial vehicle detected approximately 1 km from the base in Redzikowo posed no threat to the base’s facilities and was continuously monitored by military air defence systems, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“The drone did not fly over the base, but its flight violated the zone in which flights by unmanned aerial vehicles are prohibited,” the military added.

The US missile defence facility in Redzikowo was officially commissioned in November 2024. Construction began in 2016 and, according to publicly available sources, cost the US $850 million.

The Aegis Ashore facility in Redzikowo is part of the phased deployment of components of the missile defence system in Europe.

The system also includes Aegis-equipped ships based in the Spanish city of Rota, the AN/TPY-2 radar station in Türkiye, which has been operational since 2011, and another Aegis Ashore facility at the Deveselu base in Romania.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov