The Pentagon has bought a Dacia Sandero Stepway 2 for the Romanian Defense Ministry, Bloomberg reported. The acquisition was covered from a USD 2.9 million allotment from a fund for “extraordinary expenses” “to pay local contractors for construction of a perimeter road around a base in Romania that houses the U.S.’s top ground-based missile defense site in Europe -- and to foot the bill for the car along the way,” according to the Bloomberg article.

The base is located in Deveselu, in southern Romania’s Olt county. It hosts the Ashore ‪Missile Defense System, meant to deter ballistic missile threats in the region. The USD 2.9 million covered mainly the design and building of a 12.4 km perimeter road at the military base.

The funding was approved because “the perimeter road will help Romanian forces provide better external security for the base,” a Navy spokesperson told Bloomberg. It was approved by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who argued it was meant to “avoid harm to international relations between the U.S. and Romania as well as adverse public opinion.”

A former Pentagon Comptroller called the acquisition of the vehicle “unusual, regardless of funding source.” Still, “it demonstrates the sometimes small and mundane steps that Mattis has taken to strengthen bonds with allies,” Bloomberg wrote.

The Bloomberg article can be read here.

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(Photo: Dacia Sandero Stepway II by Overlaet Wikipedia)

editor@romania-insider.com