US THAAD anti-missile system to be temporary brought to Romania as Deveselu shield will undergo upgrading

The Aegis Ashore anti-missile system installed at the 99 Deveselu Military Base will go through an upgrading in the coming period, a previously planned process, the MoD informs. In the planned period of Deveselu’s upgrading, which will take several weeks, NATO will provide an alternative ballistic missile defence capability by deploying a Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in our country, belonging to United States of America, the Ministry of Defence also informs.

“In accordance with the decisions made at NATO level and with the bilateral agreement between Romania and the United States of America, the Aegis Ashore missile system installed at the 99 Deveselu Military Base will undergo a previously planned upgrading process,” the Army says.

“The works that will be carried out on the Aegis Ashore elements located at Deveselu are part of the planned upgrading of the US Aegis systems. This updating process will in no way introduce elements of offensive nature to the system and will not change its strictly defensive character,” the Defence Ministry further says.

“The upgrading has been planned since September 2009, when the US missile defense system implementation timetable for Europe was announced, in a new, adaptive approach in steps (EPAA – European Phased, Adaptive Approach to Ballistic Missile Defense),” the Army’s release reads.

The deployment of the THAAD defensive system in Romania will be temporary, and it is planned to remain operational only until the completion of the upgrading of Aegis Ashore anti-missile system.