Russians Know Missile Shield Is No Threat, U.S. Says

The U.S. Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) missile shield may have raised some old, Cold War hackles, but the system is no threat to the Russians -- and they know it, according to a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency in Washington.

The small, 10-missile defense system is set for deployment in Poland within four years. Its primary purpose is to protect Europe from a new class of medium-range missiles being deployed by Iran, U.S. military officials insist.

“[The GBI shield] isn’t designed against any kind of Russian technology; it is strictly designed for Iranian missiles,” MDA spokesman Rick Lehner tells Newsmax. “It would be a tail chase and we could never intercept them -- the geometry isn't there.” [snip]

What MDA does know for sure is that GBI can defeat current and future Iranian threats, Lehner says.

“The missile is designed to collide with a target in space.” says Lehner. “It is a bullet that can hit a spot on another bullet. It works. We have had 36 out of 45 [80% - and rapidly climbing] hit-to-kill intercepts since 2001, and that is very impressive.”
[snip]

Medvedev has said he would reconsider aiming the offensive missiles at Europe if President-elect Barack Obama agrees not to deploy GBI. On Friday, the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Moscow quoted an unnamed official on Obama’s transition team as saying Obama is open to negotiation on the issue.

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