Pentagon Sees U.S. Defense in 2010 for Iran Rockets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ground-based interceptor missiles to be deployed in the western United States in 2010 will be able to shoot down long-range Iranian rockets, Pentagon officials said on Thursday, brushing aside criticism of the Obama administration's European defense overhaul.

Israel will also get added protection under the administration's missile shield, the officials told Congress.

U.S. Navy ships equipped with Aegis missile interceptors, to be deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, "can provide an entire additional layer of defense over Israel," the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said.

President Barack Obama has come under fire from Republicans in Congress for refocusing U.S. missile defenses in Europe on what U.S. intelligence agencies see as the more immediate threat from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles, which could target U.S. ally Israel as well as American forces in the Middle East and parts of Europe.

But Republican critics said Obama's decision could leave the U.S. mainland and parts of Western Europe more vulnerable to attack from an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile (IBCM), a concern the Obama administration disputes.

Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy, appearing before the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said the 30 ground-based interceptor missiles to be deployed in Alaska and California by the end of 2010 will "provide the United States with full protection of the homeland against an Iranian ICBM threat."

Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said the U.S. sites were well positioned to defend against both Iranian and North Korean rockets.

Some critics believe the Alaska and California sites will be less effective in defending the East Coast of the United States than a scrapped Bush administration proposal to put 10 large ground-based interceptors in silos in Poland.

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