Rocket Shield USA inside EU ready to run

[rmstock]

Telegraaf, Thursday, May 12, 2016, page T16: `Rocket Shield USA inside EU is ready to run'

It foremost means that this Rocket Shield by USA is also ready to shield for Israeli nukes ...

[rmstock]

World | Wed May 11, 2016 9:14pm EDT
U.S. to switch on European missile shield despite Russian alarm
BUCHAREST | By Robin Emmott
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-shield-idUSKCN0Y217M



  "The United States' European missile defense shield goes live on
   Thursday almost a decade after Washington proposed protecting NATO from
   Iranian rockets and despite Russian warnings that the West is
   threatening the peace in central Europe.
   
   Amid high Russia-West tension, U.S. and NATO officials will declare
   operational the shield at a remote air base in Deveselu, Romania, after
   years of planning, billions of dollars in investment and failed
   attempts to assuage Russian concerns that the shield could be used
   against Moscow.
   
   "We now have the capability to protect NATO in Europe," said Robert
   Bell, a NATO-based envoy of U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "The
   Iranians are increasing their capabilities and we have to be ahead of
   that. The system is not aimed against Russia," he told reporters,
   adding that the system will soon be handed over to NATO command.
   
   The United States will also start construction on a second site in
   Poland on Friday that is due to be ready in 2018, giving NATO a
   permanent, round-the-clock shield in addition to radars and ships
   already in the Mediterranean.
   
   Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its Cold War rival in
   formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe where it once held sway. Moscow
   says the U.S.-led alliance is trying to encircle it close to the
   strategically important Black Sea, home to a Russian naval fleet and
   where NATO is also considering increasing patrols.
   
   The foreign ministry in Moscow, in comments on Russian news agencies,
   said Iran's missile program posed no threat to NATO states in Europe
   and called the U.S. move a mistake and a treaty violation that directly
   affected Russia's national security.
   
   The readying of the shield also comes as NATO prepares a new deterrent
   in Poland and the Baltics, following Russia's 2014 annexation of
   Crimea. In response, Russia is reinforcing its western and southern
   flanks with three new divisions.
   
   Despite U.S. assurances, the Kremlin says the missile shield's real aim
   is to neutralize Moscow's nuclear arsenal long enough for the United
   States to make a first strike on Russia in the event of war.
   
   
   RELATED COVERAGE
   › Russia: U.S. missile shield in Romania flouts nuclear treaty
   
   
   The shield relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into
   space. Tracking sensors then measure the rocket's trajectory and
   intercept and destroy it in space, before it re-enters the earth's
   atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.
   
   The Russian ambassador to Denmark warned a year ago that Danish
   warships would become targets for Russian nuclear missiles if Denmark
   joined the shield project by installing radars on its vessels. Denmark
   is upgrading at least one frigate to house a ballistic missile sensor.
   
   Turkey already hosts a U.S. radar and the Netherlands has equipped
   ships with radars. The United States also has four ships in Spain as
   part of the defenses, while all NATO nations are contributing funding.
   
   "Ballistic missile defense sites could pose threats to the stability
   and strategic assets of the Russian Federation," Russia's ambassador to
   NATO, Alexander Grushko, told Reuters last month.
   
   
   'ROGUE STATES'
   
   U.S. officials dismiss the Russian view as "strategic paranoia" and
   blame Moscow for breaking off talks with NATO in 2013 that were aimed
   at explaining how the shield would operate.
   
   The United States says Russia was seeking a treaty limiting the
   capability and range of ballistic missile interceptors. "No government
   could agree to that," U.S. adviser Bell said.
   
   
   RELATED COVERAGE
   › After long wait, U.S. to unveil European missile shield
   
   
   Russian officials are concerned about technology that the United States
   says it does not have, including a missile defense interceptor capable
   of speeds of 10 km (6.2 miles) per second that could destroy Russian
   missiles.
   
   First agreed by the U.S. government 2007 and then canceled and
   relaunched by the newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009,
   the missile defense shield's stated aim is to protect North America and
   Europe from so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. That
   is part of a U.S. strategy that includes missile interceptors in
   California and Alaska.
   
   Ballistic missiles, which differ from cruise missiles because they
   leave the earth's atmosphere, can travel distances of up 3,000 km
   (1,875 miles).
   
   Despite a historic deal between world powers and Tehran to limit Iran's
   nuclear program, the West believes Iran's Revolutionary Guards continue
   to develop ballistic missile technology, carrying out two tests late
   last year.
   
   "They are looking for greater distance and accuracy," said Douglas
   Barrie, an aerospace defense specialist at the International Institute
   for Strategic Studies (IISS). "They can still miss by hundreds of
   meters, but that doesn't rule out firing against a city or a very large
   airfield."
   
    (Additional reporting by Alexander Winning in Moscow and Alastair
   Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
   
   
   U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in
   Washington, U.S., April 28, 2016.
    Reuters/Jonathan Ernst "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ8mw-3PYVY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR4P9Ilaa2Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlMJ3-eYu_k

[MikeWB]

That map with Iran in red is funny. Missile shield has nothing to do with Iran. It's just another play against Russia.

[rmstock]

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) is welcomed by Romania's President Klaus Iohannis at Cotroceni presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, 12 May 2016. Stoltenberg is in Romania to inaugurate the antimissile defense system Aegis Ashore at the Deveselu military base, part of the US anti-missile shield that will be an integrated part of NATO?s anti-ballistic defense system.
EPA/BOGDAN CRISTEL
US activates missile defence station in Romania
Published 11:04 May 12, 2016 Updated 11:05 May 12, 2016
The US station is equipped with three batteries with 24 SM-3 [1] intercepting missiles capable of destroying short- and medium-range ballistic missiles
By NEOnline/GK  [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-161_Standard_Missile_3
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/us-activates-missile-defence-station-romania/

  "In a few hours a US missile defence station in Deveselu, Romania is
   expected to become operational today.
   
   NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, US Deputy Secretary of Defence
   Robert Work, and Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, are attending
   the inaugural ceremony, which is broadcasted live at NATO's webpage.
   
   According to Romania-Insider, the so-called Aegis ballistic missile
   defence system has three batteries with 24 SM-3 intercepting missiles
   capable of destroying short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, and a
   radar to guide the missiles. The Aegis system will become part of the
   US anti-missile shield in Europe and will be also a part of NATO's
   anti-ballistic defence system.
   
   The US Department of Defence announced that a similar system will
   become operational in Poland by 2018, while similar bases are located
   already in other European countries, such as Turkey and the UK.
   
   Russia is a long-time opponent of the US anti-missile system saying
   that the missile defence stations are placed in Europe because they aim
   to neutralise Russia's offensive capability in case of a war. However,
   Frank Rose, a US official from the Department of Defence said yesterday
   that the US and NATO missile defence systems are "directed against
   ballistic missile threats outside the Euro-Atlantic area" and not
   Russia. "NATO and the United States have explained this to Russia many
   times over the years," Rose added.
   
   "Both the US and NATO have made it clear the system is not designed for
   or capable of undermining Russia's strategic deterrence capability,"
   the US official told reporters. According to Romania Insider, Robert
   Bell, the Pentagon's emissary to Europe also said today that the
   antimissile defence system will allow Europe to defend itself against
   attacks from Middle East countries such as Iran.
   
   Yesterday, Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian foreign ministry's
   department for proliferation and arms control issues issued a statement
   criticising the establishment of the missile system.
   
   "The creation of a European and global missile defence shield has an
   adverse effect on strategic stability, our direct interests, the
   interests of our national security are affected by the decision," the
   Russian official said.
   
   According to Russian website, RT, Ulyanov accused Washington of
   breaching the 1987 INF treaty, under which Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald
   Reagan signed their respective countries up to obligations "not to
   possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile
   (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or
   produce launchers of such missiles."
   
   In an opinion piece published today, Stoltenberg defended the missile
   system stressing that "Russia has declined all NATO proposals for
   cooperation on missile defence, including the establishment of joint
   centres and a regime to ensure missile defence transparency."
   
   The NATO official stressed that Moscow unilaterally terminated dialogue
   with NATO on this issue in 2013."

NATO Secretary General with the President of Romania, 12 MAY 2015
by NATO , Published on May 13, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQZl3SGTLw
  "Joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and
   the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, 12 May 2016."