NATO: U.S. to base anti-missile ships in Spain

Oct. 5, 2011 12:50 PM PT

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REPORTING FROM BRUSSELS -- The United States and Spain announced an agreement Wednesday to base several U.S. Navy cruisers in Spain as part of a fledgling missile defense system in southern Europe that is due to be operational by the end of the year.

The system is aimed largely at Iran, which is developing shorter range missiles capable of hitting southern Europe, officials have said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the deal at a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

Four Aegis cruisers, which have sophisticated radar for shooting down missiles, will be based at Rota naval base on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, said a senior U.S. official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

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-- David S. Cloud

Oct. 5, 2011, at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Credit: Yves Herman / Reuters

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David S. Cloud

David S. Cloud covered the Pentagon, the military and other national issues from the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Los Angeles Times. In his 30-year career, he has also worked at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, where he was a member of a team of reporters awarded a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks. He is co-author of “The Fourth Star,” which traces the careers and experiences in Iraq of four U.S. officers.