Nuclear security

U.S. missiles in Romania and Poland: Europe on the nuclear frontline

 At a ribbon cutting ceremony at the air base of Deveselu in Romania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg inaugurated the "Aegis Ashore" land-based installation of the U.S. Aegis missile system.

Stoltenberg thanked the United States, because this installation greatly increases its ability to "defend European allies against ballistic missiles outside the Euro-Atlantic area." He announced the start of work to establish another “Aegis Ashore” in Poland, similar to the one in operation in Romania. This one will also be equipped with Lockheed Martin’s SM-3 interceptor missiles and MK 41 vertical launchers.

The two land-based installations are added to four Aegis ships (also equipped with SM-3 missiles and vertical launchers) which – sent out by the U.S. Navy from the Spanish base of Rota — cross the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Baltic Sea, while linked to a powerful radar system in Turkey and a command center in Germany.