Navy Surface ships with ballistic missile defense capabilities — like the cruiser Shiloh, above, firing a Standard Missile-3 during a 2006 test — will patrol the North Sea and the Mediterranean starting in 2011 to provide missile defense to Europe. US NavyBMD Fleet Plans Europe Defense Mission -- Navy Times
The Navy’s new mission of protecting Europe from ballistic-missile attacks has widespread implications for the surface fleet, potentially affecting everything from deployment schedules to crewing arrangements to command-and-control procedures for cruisers and destroyers.
Ballistic-missile defense warships have become the keystone in a new national strategy to shield European allies from potential attacks by Iran. Rather than field sensors and missiles on the ground in Poland and the Czech Republic, the U.S. will first maintain a presence of at least two or three Aegis BMD ships in the waters around Europe, starting in 2011.
Read more ....
Update: Nobody Knows... -- Information Dissemination
My Comment: Galrahn at Information Dissemination is 100% correct ..... nobody knows. I have some excellent contacts in Washington who are in the loop on issues of defense. When I asked them questions on how such a project will be implemented by the Navy, they answered back that nothing of substance has been done. The decision to pursue this policy was done at the highest levels (i.e. Gate's office and the White House), and the orders to follow through on this new policy are only now being written up.
Sigh ..... if true, this is not how you run national defense. But for some reason the decision has already been made that this is the direction that the Navy will now follow. Forget about feasibility studies, budget and resource requirements, feedback from Congress, feedback from our allies and foreign governments .... nope .... this is no longer necessary.
Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?