Romania is set to host part of the new US Missile Defence Shield, it emerged on Thursday 4th February 2010. This new shield is the US’ envisaged replacement for the networked defence system scrapped by President Obama in 2009, and which would have seen missile interceptors and radars sited in the Czech Republic and Poland.

News of Romania’s involvement in the scaled-down missile defence shield emerged courtesy of the Romanian President, Traian Basescu. Under the terms established so far, the country will deploy land and sea-based missile interceptors: the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System will be deployed in the case of the latter. While approval for Romania’s involvement has now come from the country’s Supreme Defence Council, the Romanian Parliament still needs to give its approval.

Missile Defence System

Mr Basescu stressed that its decision to field missile interception technologies did not represent a threat to Russia, which was a frequent critic of the previous missile defence systems plans. Rather, said the President, the development would simply boost national security.

“The [Supreme Defence] Council approved a US proposal that Romania takes part in the anti-rocket shield system”, he said, adding: “Terrestrial interceptors will be located inside the national territory.”

The previous US Missile Defence Shield was dropped by the US President last September and – according to Russia – this was a “responsible move”. Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, however, stressed that the US would continue to assess plans that involved stationing missile defence technologies within Europe.

One month after this, Poland pledged its allegiance to the new missile shield scheme, a plan that – said Joe Biden, US Vice-President – offered “...better security for NATO and...better security for Poland.”

Missile Defence: Romania

The new US Missile Defence Shield which Romania has now joined, too, has a different purpose to the previous plan. Whereas, before, it stood to counter ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile), it will now focus on tackling both short-range and medium-range missiles – a shift prompted by new intelligence which intimates Iran has moved away from long-range to short/medium-range missiles. It was Iran that – according to previous comments – represented one of the “rogue states” that the first shield was designed to counter.

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System incorporates the SM-3 (Standard Missile 3), which is produced by Raytheon and Aerojet and costs $9.5 million apiece. This missile has a range of less than 500 kilometres and forms part of the US Navy’s current weapons arsenal.

See also:

US Missile Defence Shield: How it Works