In 2007, the then US president George W. Bush committed the States to setting up a Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) network in Europe with its NATO partners. NATO will undertake three stages to reach the goal.
The first stage was completed last September, when four anti-missile Aegis cruisers were deployed in south Spain's Rota naval station. With the Aegis combat system in Spain, the US could reach the Mediterranean region. The US then focused on the Black Sea region. NATO launched a ballistic missile defense site in Romania this week. The last site for NATO's ground-based Aegis anti-missile system will be in Redzikowo [Red-zi-kovo], Poland. The Baltic seas are the possible target in this stage.
NATO plans to hold a summit meeting in eastern Europe in July focusing on adjusting to the new security enviroment. According to the United States government, the missile defense system is intended to protect against future missiles from Iran. Russia strongly opposes the system. It says the sites the US has chosen for ballistic missile defense system blunt their own strategic weapon system and could cause risk to Russian security. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that NATO's expansion in eastern Europe and the deployment of the missile defense system were harming bilateral relation.