The Navy commission its new top secret missile defense base in southern Romania, one of two European land-based interceptor sites for a NATO missile shield recently.
“The base in Deveselu will be the first to feature the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system, a land-based version of the sophisticated radar tracking system installed on U.S. warships since 2004. Scheduled to become operational by the end of next year, the base — which is housed within a larger Romanian military installation — will be staffed by several hundred U.S. military, civilian and contract employees. A second site, in Poland, is scheduled to become operational by 2018.
The site at Deveselu, part of the second phase, will host an Aegis SPY-1 radar and hold 24 Standard Missile-3 interceptors of the Block IB variant. A four-story radar deckhouse, similar to those used on a warship, will be moved to the site from the U.S. East Coast as part of construction.
The third and fourth phases were to focus on medium- and longer-range missile threats, with construction of the second land-based site in Poland and development of two new SM-3 variants. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel canceled the fourth phase last year, which called for development of the * long-range SM-3 variant by 2020.”
Source: http://www.stripes.com/…/navy-to-commission-missile-defense…
The site is part of a NATO planned “missile defense shield” as a defense against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles threats from Iran and other rogue states.
The Aegis can also be aimed and used against Russia’s ballistic missile arsenal – “pre-emptively”, according to sources.
Note: SM-3 – he RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) is a ship-based missile system used by the US Navy to intercept short-to intermediate-range ballistic missiles as a part of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Although primarily designed as an anti-ballistic missile, the SM-3 has also been employed in an anti-satellite capacity against a satellite at the lower end of low Earth orbit . Source: Pentagon news briefing of February 14, 2008 (video, transcript):
See video: Missile Defense Agency video Aegis missile test launch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3hKDriiVs
See video: Ballistic Missile Defense Overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LPdmxnBkIU