U.S. President Barack Obama came under a fusillade of criticism from missile defense advocates following the announcement Sept. 17 of a change in U.S. plans for a European shield, which was to feature 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland and a powerful tracking radar in the Czech Republic. The new plan calls for deploying Aegis ships equipped with Standard Missile (SM)-3 interceptors to defend Europe from short- and medium-range Iranian missiles starting in 2011 and gradually upgrading capabilities — including the addition of land-based SM-3 variants — to address the threat as it evolves.

This post is only available to members.