President Obama dismayed America's allies in Europe and angered his political opponents at home today when he formally ditched plans to set up a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The project had been close to the heart of Mr Obama's predecessor, President Bush, who had argued before leaving office in January that it was needed to defend against long-range ballistic missile attacks from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

But it had hobbled relations with Russia, which considered it both a security threat and an unnecessary political provocation in its own backyard.

At a White House appearance today, Mr Obama confirmed that the defence shield envisaged by the Bush Administration, involving a radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets sited in Poland, was being abandoned.

Expert View

For Putin, the lesson of today’s decision is clear. Intransigence pays dividends

Tony Halpin in Moscow

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Instead, after a comprehensive review, he had decided to accept the advice of both the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, and of the Chiefs of Staff opt for a "smarter, stronger and swifter" system involving both sea-based and land-based mobile interceptors.

Mr Obama said that latest intelligence suggested that threat of long-range missile attacks from Iran had receded, but the threat of short- or medium-range attacks was a real one.

He said that the system would be "phased and adaptive" and used proven technologies to create an effective missile defence system.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Mr Gates said that the new system could be operational six or seven years before the Bush-era shield would have come online, more effectively replying to future threats.

Mr Gates said that the initial stage of the new American plan would see the deployment of Aegis-equipped ships, armed with interceptors, giving the military the ability to move the system around.

Another key to the near-term network would be new, more mobile radar used to detect and track short- and medium-range missiles if they were launched from Iran.

Mr Gates said that a second phase of the plan would add a modified version of a land-based missile that is still being developed.

He said that the United States had told the Czech Republic and Poland that they would be part of that stage of the system, which will not be in place until 2015 - but could still result in American missiles being based in Eastern Europe.

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