Romania made history, bolstering regional security and NATO’s southeastern flank, with the first live-fire test of its Patriot surface-to-air air defense system November 15-16. The Romanian Army’s 74th PATRIOT Regiment conducted the exercise at the Capu Midia Training Range with support from the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command and its Security Assistance Training Management Organization. Both commands played significant roles in the advancement of Romania’s air defense capabilities, from facilitating Romania’s acquisition of the PATRIOT via foreign military sales to the training of hundreds of Romanian Army troops on the U.S. system. The PATRIOT Technical Assistance Field Team (TAFT) was assembled shortly after the 74TH received its first of seven PATRIOT systems in 2020, part of a $3.9 billion foreign military sale in support of Romania ’s military modernization plans.
“The two-day exercise consisted of four demonstrations. Our role for the exercise was to help plan and coordinate it. This included helping secure the targets and ensuring they had the equipment they needed, and that subject-matter-experts were on hand should anything happen. The success of the event was a testament to the service SATMO provides and will continue to provide as long as the TAFT remains in place. TAFTs are generally made up of a lead officer, an NCOIC, and as many subject matter experts as needed, depending on what we’re providing training for. Once in country, we’re pretty much building the organization from the ground up,” said Maj. John Nastus, the lead for SATMO’s Romania PATRIOT TAFT.
For a PATRIOT regiment like the 74th, personnel are needed for several of the launching stations, the radar, the engagement consultation, the electric power plant, and the antenna mask group, according to Nastus, so SATMO must make sure the SMEs selected for the TAFT can cover all components of the system. The process to establish a fully qualified, fully operational PATRIOT regiment takes years. According to Petrie, SATMO is currently training the second of seven firing units. And there is no sign that training will end anytime soon. Romania’s position along the Black Sea, its 380-mile border with Ukraine, and security partnership with the United States make it a critical ally to the U.S. and Europe. The time and commitment provided by the PATRIOT TAFT is of critical strategic importance, as it “instills confidence in the operators, and the live-fire exercise just helped validate that confidence.”
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target”, which is a backronym for “Patriot”. In 1984, the Patriot system began to replace the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army’s primary high to medium air defense (HIMAD) system and the MIM-23 Hawk system as the U.S. Army’s medium tactical air defense system. In addition to these roles, Patriot has been given a function in the U.S. Army’s anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. The system is expected to stay fielded until at least 2040.
