LONDON (AP) - Britain should push the United States to halt plans for its national missile defense system, a parliament committee on foreign affairs recommended Tuesday. The missile defense program is a $60 billion system that would allow the United States to destroy incoming warheads.

Critics of the system argue that the program would increase Britain's vulnerability to attack without offering coverage by the U.S. defensive screen.

The Foreign Affairs Committee into Weapons of Mass Destruction recommended that the government urge the United States "to seek other ways of reducing the threats it perceives," rather than try the missile shield.

The bi-partisan committee in its report said it was not convinced that the missile defense program "represents an appropriate response to the proliferation problems faced by the international community."

It also questioned the program's feasibility, noting that two out of three tests on the system didn't work.

The lawmakers also warned that Russia and China opposed the program, which could be "dangerously destabilizing."

The Pentagon has set a target date of 2005 for having a national missile defense ready for use.