PRESIDENT BUSH’S multibillion-dollar missile defence shield will be incapable of shooting down incoming warheads when it deploys in six months, a panel of scientists reported yesterday.

A technical analysis found “no basis for believing the system will have any capability to defend against a real attack.”

The Republican dream of a “Star Wars” shield has swallowed some $130 billion (£74 billion) since it was first pursued by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The idea appeared to have died with the Cold War, but the threat posed to the US by North Korea coupled with Mr Bush’s election in 2000 gave it new life.

In September, the initial system will deploy ten interceptor missiles in giant silos in Alaska and California. The missiles launch “kill vehicles” to destroy incoming warheads while they are outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The system has scored five “hits” in eight highly controlled tests.

Critics say this only proves how limited the system currently is and accuse the Bush Administration of rushing to deploy it.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a lobby group from Cambridge, Massachusetts, said even rudimentary countermeasures built into the incoming warhead would confuse the missile defence, and that overstating the system’s capabilities was irresponsible.

“I actually worry that it’s worse than useless, that it’s really dangerous,” said George Lewis, one of the authors of the 76-page report.

However, the Pentagon maintained that the system was significantly better than nothing. “Even the limited defence we are mounting provides a level of protection against an accidental or unauthorised missile launch or a limited attack where we currently have no protection,” a spokesman said.

The Pentagon is asking for $53 billion over the next five years to develop and extend the shield to include defences based at sea, in the air on modified Boeing 747s and in space.

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