First US full-time military presence in Poland

A group of up to 10 American troops last week became the first ever full-time US ‘boots on the ground’ in Poland, according an AFP report.  

This small contingent is aimed at facilitating joint training exercises on US-made F-16 fighter jets at the Lask air force base in central Poland.  Quarterly rotations of up to 250 US airmen stationed in Germany will also take place under the joint training exercises that will begin in 2013 at the Lask, Powidz and Krzesiny air force bases in central Poland.
 
US President Obama and Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski agreed to create the first US detachment on Polish soil in Washington in December 2010, a move which immediately raised hackles in Russia.
 
A statement issued at the time by the Russian defence ministry said Moscow would "take into account the American-Polish plans and carry out [its] own armed forces development projects" adding it "believed that different decisions would be better in the interest of European security".
 
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is also moving ahead with plans to deploy ballistic missile interceptors in Poland, the new top US envoy to Warsaw said last week in a Reuters report.
 
"President Obama is absolutely determined to form a (missile shield) base in Redzikowo in 2018," said Ambassador Stephen Mull, just days after beginning work in the Polish capital.