MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Polish government is waiting for an official proposal from the U.S. on a new missile defense plan for the country, the government chief of staff said on Friday.
Obama announced last Thursday that Washington would not deploy missile-defense elements in the Czech Republic and Poland, due to a re-assessment of the threat from Iran. According to the administration's new plan, land-based missile defense shields will not be implemented before 2015.
Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said earlier that the United States was in consultation with Poland and the Czech Republic on their role in a new missile defense program.
Slawomir Nowak said the change in U.S. plans involves switching to ship- and ground-based radars and using the Standard Missile 3 as an interceptor, which are to be sited near the town of Redzikowo by 2015.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said a U.S. official proposal should be submitted within the next few weeks.
Pentagon officials said Obama's decision to review a previous missile-defense plan provides a more effective and flexible system that will take less time to implement.
"We are confident that our new approach represents a dramatic improvement over the program of old," Flournoy told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
By implementing the new plan, "we'll be able to protect vulnerable parts of Europe and the tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed there by the end of 2011," Flournoy said. "And, we'll be creating a far more flexible and adaptive missile-defense system, one that can adapt to provide better protection against emerging threats."
The previous European missile-defense plan couldn't be put into operation "until at least 2017," Flournoy said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last Friday that Poland and the Czech Republic would remain the key candidates to host a missile defense shield.
Clinton dismissed critics who believe Obama's move to scrap missile defense systems in both countries will leave Europe vulnerable to missile attacks.
She said the U.S. would continue to work closely with Poland and the Czech Republic on a missile defense system.
