US Defence Secretary, William Cohen, has said the proposed national missile defence system might not be ready by the target date of 2005.

Mr Cohen told the Senate Armed Services Committee that failed flight tests in January and July had called into question the practicality of the deployment date.

According to Pentagon projections, it would take five years to complete the construction of an anti-missile shield capable of defending the US against an attack by ballistic missiles.

Supporters of the shield say it is necessary to protect the US from a missile attack by a "rogue" state, such as North Korea or Iraq.

Mr Cohen said the decision on whether to deploy the system would, in effect, be left to President Clinton's successor because testing was not far enough advanced for it to be taken yet.

ABM treaty

He said that the only decision Mr Clinton would have to take was whether to start building a radar for it.

Mr Cohen told the committee that, according to the latest legal advice, clearing ground for the radar site on Shemya Island off the Alaskan coast would not violate the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty with Moscow.

He was, however, pressed by the chairman of the committee, Senator John Warner, who said that Congress had already passed a law calling for deployment.

But Mr Cohen countered by saying that this law also said that deployment was subject to feasibility.

The defence secretary is expected to make an official recommendation to President Clinton in the coming weeks on whether to proceed with the $60bn project.

The plan has been denounced by Russia and China, which say it threatens the global strategic balance.

Washington's Nato allies in Europe have also expressed strong reservations.They are sceptical of the technology, doubtful about the threat, and fearful of the diplomatic repercussions.

The BBC's Paul Reynolds in Washington says that the shifting of the real decision date will enable the whole debate about the American national defence system to be less intense - that is, if Russia accepts the American legal ruling on when National Missile the missile treaty might be violated.

He says it also gets President Clinton off the hook. Mr Clinton is widely believed to have started the programme only for political reasons.

Home Page