Washington:
The Obama administration is shelving an Eastern European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia, a US ally said on Thursday. The Pentagon confirmed a "major adjustment" of the system designed to guard against Iranian missiles.
Jan Fischer, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, told reporters that President Barack Obama phoned him overnight to say the US "is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory."
The US still intends to provide security and defenses, but wants to rework or revamp how it is done - based on other technologies and the new threat assessment, said a senior defense official speaking anonymously to be able to discuss the plan before a scheduled Pentagon news conference later on Thursday.
As President Barack Obama prepared to make a public statement, two defense officials said that a new administration assessment concludes Iranian medium and short-range missiles are a greater threat than long-range missiles. They said the US will lay out a plan that reconfigures defenses for the region, including possibly the use of ship-based missiles.
"We have made a new threat assessment, so we're revising the architecture to meet the short and medium ballistic missile threat from Iran. The new system will be more adaptable, mobile, and defensible," a third US official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the moves had not yet been announced officially.
The missile defense system, planned under the Bush administration, was being built in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the plan is being changed in part because the US has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed. "While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said.
"We have made a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system that will better protect our forces deployed in Europe and our allies there from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles," Morrell said.
Details were to be announced by the US Thursday morning. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk was to talk with Obama by phone Thursday about the plan, Polish government spokesman Pawel Gras said.
Obama's top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen, said on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defense shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results.
Jan Fischer, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, told reporters that President Barack Obama phoned him overnight to say the US "is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory."
The US still intends to provide security and defenses, but wants to rework or revamp how it is done - based on other technologies and the new threat assessment, said a senior defense official speaking anonymously to be able to discuss the plan before a scheduled Pentagon news conference later on Thursday.
As President Barack Obama prepared to make a public statement, two defense officials said that a new administration assessment concludes Iranian medium and short-range missiles are a greater threat than long-range missiles. They said the US will lay out a plan that reconfigures defenses for the region, including possibly the use of ship-based missiles.
"We have made a new threat assessment, so we're revising the architecture to meet the short and medium ballistic missile threat from Iran. The new system will be more adaptable, mobile, and defensible," a third US official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the moves had not yet been announced officially.
The missile defense system, planned under the Bush administration, was being built in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the plan is being changed in part because the US has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed. "While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said.
"We have made a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system that will better protect our forces deployed in Europe and our allies there from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles," Morrell said.
Details were to be announced by the US Thursday morning. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk was to talk with Obama by phone Thursday about the plan, Polish government spokesman Pawel Gras said.
Obama's top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen, said on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defense shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
