Stars and Stripes:
CAPU MIDIA, Romania — U.S. troops participating in an air defense exercise with Romanian forces on Thursday fired a barrage of missiles over the Black Sea, including the first Patriot missiles to be launched over continental Europe.
The exercise allowed the NATO partners to work together to shoot down drones flying over the Black Sea, which has become a focus of NATO attention since the Russian annexation in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, located just 150 miles across the sea from the Romanian missile range.
It also allowed the U.S. to showcase the Patriots — made by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon — to Romania, which is in the process of acquiring the system and plans to field it next year.
