US ship to 'bolster' Europe's missile defenses (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US military will send a warship to the Mediterranean next week as a first step in a defense shield to protect Europe from a potential strike from Iran's missile arsenal, a defense official said.

The USS Monterey, a guided missile cruiser equipped with Aegis radar designed to detect ballistic missiles, is due to depart next week from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia for a six-month mission, said John Plumb, principal director of nuclear and missile defense policy.

The ship's launch fulfills the US administration's goal of deploying military hardware for the shield in 2011.

After President Barack Obama announced a new missile defense policy in 2009, Plumb said "now here is our first concrete demonstration of our commitment to the missile defense of our deployed forces, allies and partners in Europe.

"We said we were going to do it, and now we're doing it."

The Ticonderoga-class ship, which will conduct exercises with US forces in the region, will form part of a planned "routine presence" by similar vessels supporting the system, he said.

Guided missile cruisers have been sent to the Mediterranean previously but this was the first time such a ship had been deployed to back up the missile defense system, he said.

The NATO alliance endorsed the shield at a summit in Lisbon last year but skeptics of the program have questioned the reliability of the anti-missile weaponry and whether more sophisticated interceptors will be ready on time.

Russia also has voiced opposition to the planned system, which will eventually include additional land-based radars and interceptors along with Aegis ships.

The United States plans to deploy land-based radars later this year in southern Europe but negotiations are still underway, said Plumb, without saying which countries might host the sites.

As part of the "phased" approach, land-based SM-3 interceptors are due to be deployed in Romania by 2015 and in Poland by 2018, with more advanced versions of the weaponry to be introduced at each stage.

The military is still developing a land-based model for the SM-3 interceptor, which is currently deployed on naval ships.

The Obama administration says the missile defense system is primarily aimed at the potential threat posed by Iran's nuclear program and its growing number of medium-range missiles.

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Israel, US successfully test Arrow missile (AP)

JERUSALEM – Israel and the U.S. carried out a successful test of the Arrow anti-missile system off the coast of California, Israel's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Israel's Defense Ministry said the Arrow detected, intercepted and destroyed a target missile launched from an offshore platform inside a U.S. Navy firing range in a test carried out late Monday.

Tuesday's statement said the trial, the latest in a series of successful tests of the system, "provides confidence in operational Israeli capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat."

Jointly developed by Israel and the U.S., the system is primarily aimed at defending Israel from the threat of an Iranian missile strike. The Arrow detects an incoming missile and destroys it with a second missile.

Israel has identified Iran as its biggest threat, citing the country's nuclear program and its development of ballistic missiles. Those fears have been compounded by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and the regime's support for militant groups fighting Israel.

Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a range of up to 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers), putting Israel well within striking distance.

Iran claims its nuclear work is for energy production.

Tensions between the two countries were raised further Tuesday by the passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal toward the Mediterranean Sea, marking the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Tehran has sent military ships through the strategic waterway.

The ships, a frigate and a supply vessel, are en route to a port in Syria, Israel's hostile northern neighbor and an Iranian ally.

Israel has made clear it views the passage as a provocation and an attempt by Iran to exploit the recent instability in Egypt to expand its influence.

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