SUGGESTED STUDIO LEAD-IN/VO: Construction is nearing completion at the Navy’s newest installation in northern Poland. The Naval Support Facility in Redzikowo (pronounced Red-jick-KoVo) will be home to the Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System(AABMDS), which will fall under NATO when completed. The base is expected to be fully operational sometime in late 2020. The Aegis Ashore site in Poland will expand a defensive capability that protects NATO European territories, populations and forces against ballistic missiles launched from outside the Euro-Atlantic region. (Video by U.S. Navy Lt. Amy Forsythe, Public Affairs Officer, Naval Support Facility Redzikowo)
B-Roll shots: construction workers walking to and from sites, equipment vehicles being used, paving cement, static shots of structures
Soundbites/Quotes:
U.S. Navy Capt. Jon Grant, Commander, Naval Support Facility Redzikowo, Poland
July 9, 2019
“What we’re looking at is the radar deck house in the background and further down range in our facilities are where the launchers are. The vertical launchers are eight cell, there eight cell, launchers that provide the SM-3 intercepts for the Ballistic Missile Defense.”
“The construction here is ongoing and probably will be completed sometime in 2020.”
“There are teams from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facility Engineering and also Missile Defense Agency that are working hard to get the base completed. It’s going through a very meticulous process. It’s very complicated, they are doing their due diligence to do it right and make sure it’s read to go in 2020.”
“The Sailors are really enjoying Poland. Right now, they’re living in town in apartments until we can move onto the base. Once we have power and water on the base, we’ll be able to accommodate them there in a multipurpose facility that has a lot of different activities. It will have an MWR and will have a movie theater, a game room. As well as a fitness center, galley and a medical department attached to the multipurpose facility, which they will live in.”
“Now, they’re enjoying living in Slupsk and in a community called Ustka, which is near the coast. It’s summertime in Poland and it’s very, very popular place to go and everybody I think is enjoying the hospitality here in Poland.”
“They’re able to travel not only in Poland, but throughout Europe. So it’s a learning opportunity for them to share and experience different cultures that they can see first-hand. I encourage that when they’re not on duty, studying for their next ratings exam or advancement test, then they should be enjoying the Polish countryside. So, we encourage that when they come to Poland.”
“So, our motto here is “One team, One fight.” So, we all work very well together. What I think I’ll miss the most is the comradery between the difference agencies. We all work together pretty harmoniously and we’re working on a very important project, not only to the United States, but for Europe as well. So, we want to make sure we get it right and everybody is on the same sheet of music. We’re very proud of that I think that as the different inter-agencies work together, we’ve become stronger, stronger as a nation.”
