Sailors man the combat information center at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland on Dec. 16, 2024, during a simulation of the base's Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system's capabilities. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY REDZIKOWO, Poland — More than a hundred sailors assigned to this rural outpost in the Polish countryside help protect Europe against ballistic missile threats much the same as if they were at sea.

They work, eat and sleep on six-month deployments, away from their friends and families for similar lengths of time as their counterparts on ships.

The total U.S. service member and civilian contingent at the base in northern Poland near the Baltic Sea numbers about 355, akin to that of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

And a 33-member watch team directly monitors the site’s Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system, working rotational 12-hour shifts to ensure 24-hour daily coverage year-round.

“It’s difficult, but it’s worth it,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Furtado, a 33-year-old gunner’s mate from Cairo, Ga., serving his second deployment at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo. “Our military is there to protect, and we’re now protecting Europe.”

The “deck house,” shown Dec. 16, 2024, includes four distinctive square panels that are part of the base’s AN/SPY-1 radar. The radar allows for the 360-degree view needed to detect, track and intercept medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

Two of three missile launch sites at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland are visible from the base's main facility. The launch sites, shown Dec. 16, 2024, are surrounded by lightning rods. Each site houses eight SM-3 missiles. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland bears an uncanny resemblance to the service’s destroyers. The ashore site, pictured Dec. 16, 2024, is the newest addition to a layered ballistic missile defense system that protects Europe. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

Capt. Michael Dwan, commodore of Task Force 64, speaks with reporters during a media tour of Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland on Dec. 16, 2024. Dwan oversees the Navy's Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania along with the ballistic missile defense capabilities of five destroyers based in Rota, Spain. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

A wooden map of Europe and Russia decorates a wall in the building housing the combat information center at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland, as seen Dec. 16, 2024. The Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense facility was declared mission-ready by NATO in July. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

Sailors man the combat information center at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland during a simulation of the base's Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system capabilities on Dec. 16, 2024. The total U.S. contingent at site is about 355. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

The Aegis Ashore missile defense system at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland was declared mission-ready by NATO in July. (Ashleigh Whitney/U.S. Navy)

The similarities to a Navy destroyer don’t end there. Four distinctive phased-array radar panels are affixed to the “deck house” at NSF Redzikowo, giving the base an uncanny resemblance to the service’s workhorse ships.

The AN/SPY-1 radar system is what provides the base — along with another Aegis Ashore site in Romania and destroyers at sea — the 360-degree view needed to detect, track and intercept medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, according to the Navy.

More than 10 years in the making, NSF Redzikowo became fully operational this year, a milestone in trans-Atlantic air and missile defense at a time when the threat of ballistic missiles on the Continent is growing, U.S. and European officials say.

On Friday, a Russian ballistic missile attack against Ukraine killed one and injured 12 others while damaging several buildings in Kyiv, Reuters reported the same day.

Meanwhile, Iran has shown growing willingness to use its arsenal, launching nearly 200 missiles against Israel in an October retaliatory attack. Most of those missiles were intercepted but a small number struck in central and eastern Israel, killing a Palestinian man, the BBC reported on Oct. 3.

“The deployment of an American destroyer on Polish soil becomes a reality, representing a significant development in the security history of Poland, the United States and NATO and marking a notable shift in the geopolitical landscape,” Polish Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said during the base’s ceremonial opening in November.

Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Furtado, a gunner's mate, closes the door of a missile launch site at Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in Poland on Dec. 16, 2024. Each of the three such sites at the base has eight unarmed SM-3 interceptor missiles. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

But unlike Navy destroyers, which carry Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles among other armament, NSF Redzikowo and NSF Deveselu in Romania each are equipped with 24 unarmed SM-3 interceptor missiles.

That makes the Aegis system at the bases “just like what we have on our ships” but with one important difference, Capt. Michael Dwan, commodore of Task Force 64, said during a recent media tour of the Redzikowo facility.

“We are purely defensive-minded,” said Dwan, whose responsibilities include oversight of the two Aegis Ashore sites and the ballistic missile defense capabilities of five Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain.

The base’s mission is part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach, which was established in 2009 to counter Iranian ballistic missile threats. It includes an early warning system in Turkey manned by the U.S. Army, he said.

The layered defense, focused on ballistic missiles capable of entering NATO member countries’ territory, is what allows the alliance to defend itself from a multitude of attack scenarios, Dwan said.

Sailor training and the base’s capabilities are designed to neutralize those threats, regardless of a missile type or location, he said.

“What keeps me up at night is essentially something that I don’t know,” Dwan said. “What doesn’t keep me up at night is my ability to meet that threat. I know that we can do that.”

Navy leaders visit the Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in Redzikowo, Poland, in July 2023. (Ashleigh Whitney/U.S. Navy)