BUDAPEST, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States will
not deploy any components of its missile shield in Hungary, a senior U.S.
defense official told reporters in Budapest on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Patrick J. O'Reilly, deputy
director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Office of the U.S. Secretary of
Defense, said the billion-dollar missile shield program will include projects in
Poland and the Czech Republic, while Hungary will not be part of it.
O'Reilly also informed Hungarian senior officials of
the latest development of the program, saying it would take three and half years
for the United States to establish the related facilities at an estimated cost
of 2.5 billion dollars.
He reiterated that Washington will cooperate and
consult with Russia on the deployment, adding that Russia's concern on the
shield plan is totally unfounded.
The U.S. missile shield plan comprises a radar system
in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland, which Washington said
is needed to protect itself and its European allies from missile attacks by Iran
or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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