“The shield from Deveselu doesn't protect us, it's exactly the opposite”. The weapons that would secure us against missiles launched from Iran

The escalation of tensions between the US, Israel and Iran puts Romania in a new light on the strategic map. With the Deveselu base on alert and the recent experience of Mihail Kogălniceanu's operations, the ability to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles becomes a matter of national security. General Bălăceanu explains, for “Adevărul”, what means of defense we would have.

The Deveselu shield should protect us from intercontinental ballistic missiles. PHOTO: EPA EFE

The alert level has been raised at American bases in Europe and around the world, and the shadow of missile attacks hangs over all allies of the United States of America. The US military has raised the security level at the Deveselu Air Base to “BRAVO” status, in the context of escalating tensions between the United States and Israel and Iran. It is a measure that currently applies to all American bases in the world, as a result of the risks generated by the conflict in the Middle East.

Although the alert level was raised, the Romanian authorities said that, according to the available data, there is no direct military threat to the national territory, but the situation is constantly monitored.

How big are the risks?

However, Romania is not in the first circle of states with American military bases on which Tehran would like to take revenge. However, we should not forget the fact that, last summer, the Mihail Kogălniceanu Military Base was used by the Americans in Operation Midnight Hammer, against Iran. Basically, on June 22, 2025, US President Donald Trump gave the green light to a massive attack by US air and sea forces on nuclear facilities in Iran.

On the other hand, Romania has traditionally had good relations with Iran, and currently it is not perceived in Tehran as an enemy. However, because there are never certainties in such situations, and assuming Iran would either act by proxy or attack with its own ballistic missiles, the question that arises is how we would defend ourselves and to what extent we would be able to do so.

So far, in the past few days, Iran has struck several countries in the Middle East in retaliation for the fact that they host US military bases from where it has acted against this country. According to the information available and provided by international press agencies, the Iranians have simultaneously hit targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, the Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as in other countries, in recent days. Most of the Iranian missiles were intercepted by the defense systems, but some reached their targets. Cyprus is added to these states, the European country where the Iranians struck a British base.

Reserve General Virgil Bălăceanu represented Romania at the NATO Command in Brussels and was head of the Multinational Brigade in South-East Europe. He talks about the risks from a military perspective and explains what military technology we could rely on to defend ourselves in the event of a hypothetical attack from Iran. With the mention that, in principle, General Virgil Bălăceanu considers that such an attack is improbable, but cannot be completely excluded.

What weapons would Iran have?

“The Iranians have missiles with a short range of up to 1,000 km, most of them and some with a range of up to 2,000 km. They are ideal for intercepting with the Patriot systems or the French system in Capu Midia, MAMBA, of the French. But we have to do another analysis of the range that these missiles reach, because there are not many that would reach the territory of Romania and especially the capital and the Deveselu shield. They should get closer with the installations of launch from the border with Turkey. It should fly over the territory of Turkey and after that the airspace, safe, international, the Black Sea and the entry into the airspace of Romania”. says the general.

This obviously raises another question, namely to what extent the Iranians could target Romania or other NATO countries and choose to strike with ballistic missiles through Turkish airspace.

“We have to take into account the danger it would represent. Again we have to correlate things. The radar for the NATO anti-ballistic defense system — because we're talking about an American system, it's operated by the Americans, but it's for defense at the NATO level — the radar is deployed in Turkey. In order to make the system operational in Romania, Deveselu, in Poland, plus the four destroyers in the port of Rota in Spain, you should first annihilate the radar in Turkey. But are we seeing an Iranian attack on the radar deployed on Turkish territory? No, and I don't think there will be such a thing. And the Turks also have short- and medium-range ballistic missile interception capabilities. As such, the answer is: yes, we have capabilities to counter Iranian missiles“, says the general.

He warns that the Deveselu shield would not be able to stop any kind of Iranian missiles. Deveselu's Aegis system is effective against Iranian ballistic missiles.

They don't defend our shield, we defend it

“It's not defending our shield, it's actually the other way around. We're defending the Deveselu shield. It's for intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the Iranians don't have yet“, states General Bălăceanu.

Romania has effective weapons for this, claims General Virgil Bălăceanu.

“Patriot systems, namely the French SAMP/T system, is intended for ballistic and cruise missiles, but now we are talking about short-range ballistic missiles, up to 1,000 kilometers, medium, up to 3,000 kilometers, and I think also for intermediate ones, ranges between 3,000 and 5,000 kilometers, which the Iranians do not have. And when I refer to MAMBA, it is a name unofficially, the rest is SAMP/T. These are sufficient to deal with a hypothetical attack,” considers the general.

In case of a proxy attack, more precisely a terrorist action, the task of preventing any kind of problems falls to the intelligence services.

“The SRI is in a state of alert, apparently as a precaution, and they are the holders of the information. They must counter if such cells are present on the territory of Romania, because in the anti-terrorist fight, information means power. And if you have the information, you can thwart a possible terrorist attack”he says.

Even so, there is no intelligence service and no army or weapon that can give 100% assurance that nothing will happen. The best evidence is that events like the one in the United States of America, on September 11, 2001, when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, but also on October 7, 2023, in Israel, when Hamas terrorists managed to surprise the dreaded Mossad and caused the death of more than 1,200 people in Gaza.

“No system is foolproof: not air defense, not anti-missile, not anti-drone, not intelligence. It depends on the failure rate. It's one thing to have intercept capabilities at over 95%, see Iron Dome, see David's Sling, see Arrow 3, and it's another to have intercept capabilities at 60% or 70%. That's a big difference.”explains the general.

As for the Patriot battery systems that Romania has – PAC-2 and PAC-3 of the Romanian Army, we cannot yet speak of a layered defense, capable of covering launched cruise missiles or kamikaze drones.

“It is in the making, but we have means of combat at the moment, including drones. We have Gepard installations, we have Oerlikon 2×35 mm guns, we have anti-jamming and de-jamming systems, we have OSA missiles, which are widely used in Ukraine against Shahed-136 drones. Please, there was a question if we somehow delivered OSA to Ukraine… We have the anti-aircraft machine guns from the ships of the Danube Flotilla. The Ukrainians are massively using anti-aircraft guns to combat the Shahed drones. And we have the programs in development: we have Chiron anti-aircraft missiles, bought from the South Koreans, we are going to receive the Mistral and we are going to receive the Israeli system on all ranges: Short Range, Very Short Range… Spyder type“, explains General Virgil Bălăceanu.

He also spoke about a realistic deadline by which Romania should have these military technologies equipped and functional.

“Mistral should complete as soon as possible, that the agreement is signed and enter into that program. Regarding the Israeli Spyder system, also manufactured by Rafael who also manufactures Iron Dome, I do not know the contractual clauses, but probably in the next 3 to 5 years we should have the operational systems. I know that there are 18 VSHORAD systems, 18 SHORAD systems and 18 combined systems“, concludes General Virgil Bălăceanu.