Missile Defense and the strategic balance in Europe

This report looks at the European components of the American Missile Defense System and its influence on the strategic military balance in Europe. The analysis is focused on defensive systems against long and intermediate range missiles. Russian reactions are given special attention. Important conclusions include that the suggested locations in Poland and the Czech Republic are technically reasonable if one wants to defend the United States and its allies from missiles launched from the Middle East. The American Missile Defense will at the same time a ect European strategic balance by depleting the credibility of other actors´ nuclear capabilities, which also implies challenges to Swedish security. One important ambition with this work is to give an independent view of the matter from a Swedish perspective. The report is part of the project Atlantic Security and European Crisis Management (ASEK), funded by the Swedish Ministry of Defence. The analysis combines security policy competence from the department of Defence Analysis with technical know-how from the department of Defence and Security Systems at FOI.