Romania and NATO’s eastern flank
Optimising troops mobility forms part of NATOs overall strategy, and Romania has a very important role in that, too, said the United States ambassador to NATO ahead of an interministerial meeting in Brussels.
Corina Cristea, 08.11.2017, 13:16
A NATO member since 2004, Romania has been strongly involved in the stability process. Romanian troops have been deployed to theatres of operation alongside others from NATO and take part in international exercises on the coordination of various situations, while Bucharest has this year allocated 2% of its GDP to defence.
At the same time, the Romanian army continues to acquire new equipment, such as F16 fighters and Patriot missile systems. Considered the most advanced air defence missile system in the world, Patriot is one of the few weapons that have been tested in real combat situations.
It is equipped with latest-generation missiles designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles in particular. Each weighs 350 kg, can move at a speed of 5,000 km/h, has a range of 20 km and can reach an altitude of 24,000 m. Patriot is also equipped with a complex radar system able to detect an enemy missile in record time and react in a matter of seconds.
For this purchase, the defence ministry in Bucharest has allocated a sizeable sum, namely 3.9 billion euros, which they say is justified given that at the moment, the Romanian army relies on US and Soviet missiles dating from the time of the Vietnam war.
Through all these actions, Romania is seeking to consolidate its position as a factor of stability in the region, while becoming an increasingly stronger partner within NATO. As a NATO member and thanks to its geostrategic position, Romania has an important role to play in the deterrence and defence posture of NATO’s entire eastern flank, taking into account its proximity to Ukraine, the US ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers under way in Brussels.
Answering a question from Radio Romania, she also said that improving the mobility of the Alliance’s troops in Europe to be able to reach quickly the allies in need to reinforcement is on the NATO agenda in general and that of the meeting of NATO defence ministers. This subject is also a priority for the NATO-EU partnership, which implies more cooperation, not only between individual members, but also with the Union as a whole, in order to remove obstacles such as customs checks, insufficient infrastructure and bureaucracy.
