WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama yesterday scrapped a Bush-era missile defence plan for Europe that Russia had bitterly opposed and offered what he said would be faster, more flexible defense systems to protect against Iran.
In a move that could spur fears of resurgent Kremlin influence, Obama said he had approved recommendations from US military leaders to shift focus to defending against Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles.
“This new approach will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defences against the threat of missile attack,” Obama said, dropping plans of his White House predecessor George W. Bush for ground-based interceptors in Poland and a related radar site in the Czech Republic.
Under the new plan, the US would initially deploy ships with missile interceptors and in a second phase would field land-based defence systems.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the decision, which removed an issue clouding US efforts to enlist Russian support on Afghanistan, Iran and nuclear arms control.
“We value the US president’s responsible approach towards implementing our agreements,” Medvedev said in an address shown on national television. “I am ready to continue the dialogue.”
Critics accused the White House of dangerous weakness.
Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate who lost to Obama in 2008, blasted the move as “seriously misguided” and former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, a leading Bush-era hawk, was scathing.
“It’s just unambiguously a bad decision,” Bolton said. “Russia and Iran are the big winners. I just think it’s a bad day for American national security.”
The Bush administration had proposed the system amid concerns Iran was trying to develop nuclear warheads it could mount on long-range missiles. But Russia saw it as a threat to its own missile defences and overall security.
Obama’s move toward a more flexible shield for Europe was good news for Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier, and Raytheon Co , the world’s biggest missile maker. They build much of the hardware on which the revamped approach relies. It was bad news for Boeing Co, prime contractor for the cancelled installation of 10 two-stage ground-based interceptors in Poland.
Outlining Obama’s new approach, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States would deploy Aegis-equipped ships with interceptors capable of shooting down ballistic missiles to defend both European allies and US forces.
Gates said land-based defence systems would be fielded in a second phase starting in about 2015.
“Those who say we are scrapping missile defence in Europe are either misinformed or misrepresenting the reality of what we are doing,” Gates said.
Signalling the administration’s view it still has some breathing space, one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran was not expected to develop long-range missile capability before 2018.
Marine Corps General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon also envisioned eventually deploying a land-based radar as part of the system which would ideally be based in the Caucasus.
Obama’s plan contains elements that may still upset Moscow — interceptor missiles could still be stationed in Poland, and also in the Czech Republic, and a radar in the Caucasus is in an area Russia sees as its sphere of influence.
But the Pentagon played down those potential concerns, saying the SM-3 missile interceptors in the new system could not be tipped with nuclear warheads and the radar would be configured only to look south towards Iran, not deep into Russia as in the Bush plan.
