The U.S. has an opportunity to place new sensors and interceptors to protect the country and its allies, said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vesti television channel reported.
"We now have the opportunity to deploy new sensors and interceptors to protect our territory and our allies," - said Gates
The Defense Secretary said that the decision to deploy missiles in Poland envisaged to be protected from Iran, but now the U.S. has understood that the threat from Iran is less likely and the possibility of Iran is lower than America thought.
"Our capabilities allow us to make the interception of missiles, so there is no need for missile defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland," Gates said.
Czech media reported on Sept. 17, citing a diplomatic source that the U.S. President Barack Obama on Sept. 17 informed the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Jan Fischer of the renunciation from the deployment of anti-missile system of the United States on the Czech territory.
On Sept. 17, in Warsaw, the U.S. delegation held talks with Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski and the chief of the Office of the President Wladyslaw Stasiak. Members of the American delegation and Sikorski refused to comment on the results of the meeting. Polish Foreign Minister went to the office of Donald Tusk to personally inform the Prime Minister of Poland on the negotiations.
The project to create a national missile defense was actively devised by the former U.S. administration. George Bush administration intended to, by 2013, deploy ten interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic under the pretext of protection from supposed missile threat from Iran. Moscow fears that these systems will threaten its security.
The question of missile defense system remained the only serious disagreement between Moscow and Washington after Barack Obama won the Oval Office. Already during the election campaign, Obama spoke about the intention to reconsider the plans to deploy missile defense systems in Europe. If the military experts recognize the project of such placement ineffective, the U.S. will give up it.