According to a press release published on the official website of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), April 11, 2019, the United States will deploy temporary the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to Deveselu in Romania.

A U.S. Army Terminal High Altitude Area Defense launching station sits at the ready in Israel, March 4, 2019. (Picture source U.S. DoD)

The THAAD unit will be under NATO operational control and the full political control of the North Atlantic Council. It will only remain operational until the Aegis Ashore Romania site is back online. The update and deployment are expected to last several weeks.

In accordance with NATO's Ballistic Missile Defence system, the THAAD unit will be focused on potential threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

The THAAD will remain operational in Romania, as the country performs regular updates and maintenance on its Aegis ashore ballistic missile system, EUCOM said.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a mobile air defense missile system able to intercepts ballistic missiles at a range of 200 km, inside or outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight.

A THAAD battery consists of six mobile launchers each carrying eight missile launch containers. To track and detect enemy missile, the THAAD air defense system uses the mobile Radar Surveillance AN/TPY-2 at a range of up to 1,000 kilometers. The fire control system is the communication and data-management backbone and is equipped with an indigenous THAAD Fire Control and Communications system.2 The Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) also provides tracking and cueing information for THAAD from other regional sensors on Aegis and Patriot systems.