NATO Completes Upgrade Of Aegis Ashore Missile System In Romania

NATO Completes Upgrade of Aegis Ashore Missile System in Romania

NATO completed on Friday a scheduled upgrade of a land-based Aegis Ashore ballistic missile system in Romania, which the military alliance said was purely defensive in nature

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th August, 2019) NATO completed on Friday a scheduled upgrade of a land-based Aegis Ashore ballistic missile system in Romania, which the military alliance said was purely defensive in nature.

"This update, which has been taking place across the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence system fleet, did not provide any offensive capability to the Aegis Ashore missile defence system," the statement read.

A US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was deployed to the Deveselu base for the time of the upgrade and will now be redeployed as planned.

NATO stressed the upgrade was part of the US European Phased Adaptive Approach to ballistic missile defense, announced in 2009. The Aegis Ashore station will track potential threats outside the bloc.

Russia has been concerned about the potential ability of US missile systems in Europe to fire Tomahawk long-range subsonic cruise missiles, banned under their bilateral treaty. The United States quit it in August.