Deveselu () is a commune in

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

Oltenia Oltenia (), also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions – with the alternative Latin names , , and between 1718 and 1739 – is a historical province and geographical region of Romania in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Da ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is composed of two villages, Comanca and Deveselu.

Geography

The commune is situated on the

Wallachian Plain The Romanian Plain () is located in southern Romania and the easternmost tip of Serbia, where it is known as the Wallachian Plain (). It is part of the larger Eurasian Steppe. It is located in the historical region of Wallachia, and bordered by ...

, about west of the river Olt. It is located in the south-central part of the county, from

Caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...

, and from the county seat, Slatina. Deveselu is crossed by

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

, which starts in Caracal and goes south to

Corabia Corabia () is a small Danube port located in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania, which used to be part of the now-dissolved Romanați County before World War II. Across the Danube from Corabia lies the Bulgarian village of Gigen. History Beneath Co ...

, a port on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. The Deveselu train station serves the CFR Line 910, which runs from

Piatra-Olt Piatra-Olt is a town in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania. The town administers five villages: Bistrița Nouă, Criva de Jos, Criva de Sus, Enoșești, and Piatra. The town is an important railway station and road intersection. It officially became a to ...

to Caracal and Corabia.

History

Deveselu is first mentioned in a document from 1537, signed by

Radu Paisie Radu VII Paisie, officially Radul (Old Church Slavonic in Romania, Church Slavonic: Радул воєвода; ), also known as Radu vodă Măjescul, Radu vodă Călugărul, Petru I, and Petru de la Argeș ( 1500Gheonea, p. 50 – after 1545), wa ...

. In 2020, Mayor Ion Aliman died at age 56 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

; the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

described him as "popular", and residents re-elected him with 1,057 out of 1,600 votes in his favor after he had died. On 27 June 2021, partial local elections were held to fill up the mayor's seat in Deveselu, and in 35 other localities. The winner of those elections, Nicolae Dobre from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, cousin of Ion Aliman earned 924 votes. The runner-up, Marius Aliman from the National Liberal Party, son of Ion Aliman, earned 812 votes.

Air base

The construction of the

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

military

air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

at Deveselu started in 1952, with assistance from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Four squadrons with some 100 pilots flying

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate s ...

and

MiG-19 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. " Cen ...

jets were based here. By the 1980s, the air base had become the most important one in Romania. During the 1990s, it was the only air base in the country from where night missions were conducted. The Deveselu air base was closed in 2003, forcing approximately 200 personnel into early retirement; about 15 still live in the commune in the "airmen neighborhood". 190809-N-AW818-889C

In the early 2010s, the air base near Deveselu was selected for the

NATO missile defence system The NATO missile defense system is a missile defense system being constructed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in several member states and around the Mediterranean Sea. Plans for this system have changed several times since fir ...

employing

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System The Aegis ballistic missile defense system (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as ''Sea-Based Midcourse'', is a Missile Defense Agency program under the United States Department of Defense developed to provide missile defense against short and inte ...

. The

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

approved a budget of 550 million

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

for the deployment of 44 interceptors. On 1 May 2012, the 99th Military Base () was established. Construction started in October 2013, with a ceremony attended by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

and

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Unite ...

James N. Miller. The inauguration ceremony was held in December 2015. The Aegis Ashore Site became operational in May 2016; the system uses the SM-3 Block IB interceptor. Deveselu airbase Romania

In the wake of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Complex in Deveselu has assumed an essential role for the security of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Alliance; the SM-3 interceptors have the capability to destroy slower,

medium-range ballistic missile A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range (aeronautics), range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the United States Department of Defense, U.S. D ...

s with potential nuclear payload during mid-course flight, could also probably work against

hypersonic weapon A hypersonic weapon is a weapon capable of maneuvering at hypersonic speed, defined as above Mach 5, or above 5 times the speed of sound. Below Mach 1, weapons would be characterized as subsonic, and above Mach 1, as supersonic. At extre ...

s. On 29 April 2022, a ceremony was held at the base with the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its establishment. On this occasion, the

military colours In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 year ...

of the 99th Military Base Deveselu were decorated with the

Order of Military Virtue The Military Virtue Medal () is a Romanian military decoration, instituted on April 8, 1872, by King Carol I. A previous version, called ''Pro Virtute Militari'', was established by Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1860 for the veterans of the Dealul Spir ...

. There are about 500 Romanian soldiers, 250 U.S. troops, and other personnel working at the base. Some of the locals are concerned about a potential attack on the facility; in an interview with

The World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

radio program, shepherd Marin Pervu said, "I'm afraid because that's my house – it's quite near; if they bomb us, it could fall in my garden."

References

{{Olt County Communes in Olt County Localities in Oltenia