Missile shield offers Europe protection, says US general (Roundup)

Mar 15, 2007, 14:31 GMT

Berlin - The director of the US Missile Defence Agency sought Thursday to allay European fears about a missile shield that Washington plans to deploy in two Eastern European nations.

General Henry A Obering said the missile defence installation was needed to counter 'a very serious threat' emerging from Iran's long- distance missiles programme.

'We have the obligation to protect the US and its allies from that threat,' Obering said, stressing the missiles were not aimed at Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the project as a threat to Moscow's security and said Russia would counter the defence shield with a similar system.

Washington plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and build a radar tracking station in the Czech Republic as part of its missile defence programme.

'We are talking about 10 interceptors that we would place against potentially hundreds of missiles and thousands of warheads that the Russians maintain. This is not what threatens the Russian missile fleet,' Obering said.

The general said he hoped discussions with the two EU newcomers would be concluded by summer so that construction of the facilities could begin next year, with completion set for 2011-2012.

The controversial scheme has triggered unease in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel said the issue should be submitted to NATO and not decided on a bilateral basis with Washington.

The chancellor is expected to raise the matter with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski when she visits Warsaw on Friday.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said this week that the alliance risked being split between countries that would be covered by the proposed shield and others left exposed to threats from Iran.

Opinion polls have shown a majority of Czechs are against the radar facility, which the US wants to build in a military zone, 50 kilometres south-west of Prague.

Obering, who flew in from Ukraine, was briefing German government officials and members of parliament before continuing on to France.