Obama: Missile Defense Is Being Adapted To Meet New Challenges

The White House just confirmed that President Barack Obama will "deliver a statement regarding missile defense" at 10:15 a.m. ET.

As has been reported, it's expected he will say that the U.S. is setting aside plans for a missile defense "shield" in Eastern Europe.

According to the Associated Press:

Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the plan is being changed in part because the U.S. has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed. "While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to take questions about this at a Pentagon news briefing following the president's statement.

We'll update this post with highlights from the president's announcement and the Pentagon briefing. Be sure to hit your "refresh" button so that you see our latest additions.

Update at 10:50 a.m. ET. From the White House, NPR's Scott Horsley summarizes the news this way:

The Bush administration had championed a missile defense system with missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. But Mr. Obama has decided to change course, because new intelligence suggests Iran is not developing the kind of long-range offensive missiles the system was designed to protect against.

Instead, Mr. Obama says the U-S will now focus on developing a less-costly, less controversial system to defend against Iran's short- and medium-range missiles.

Update at 10:45 a.m. ET. The latest AP story begins with this:

President Barack Obama on Thursday shelved a Bush-era plan for an Eastern European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia. He said a redesigned defensive system would be cheaper, quicker and more effective against the threat from Iranian missiles.

Update at 10:40 a.m. ET. The White House just released a "fact sheet" on the new policy. It includes these descriptions of the plan's four phases:

Phase One (in the 2011 timeframe) — Deploy current and proven missile defense systems available in the next two years, including the sea-based Aegis Weapon System, the SM-3 interceptor (Block IA), and sensors such as the forward-based Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance system (AN/TPY-2), to address regional ballistic missile threats to Europe and our deployed personnel and their families;

Phase Two (in the 2015 timeframe) — After appropriate testing, deploy a more capable version of the SM-3 interceptor (Block IB) in both sea- and land-based configurations, and more advanced sensors, to expand the defended area against short- and medium-range missile threats;

Phase Three (in the 2018 timeframe) — After development and testing are complete, deploy the more advanced SM-3 Block IIA variant currently under development, to counter short-, medium-, and intermediate-range missile threats; and

Phase Four (in the 2020 timeframe) — After development and testing are complete, deploy the SM-3 Block IIB to help better cope with medium- and intermediate-range missiles and the potential future ICBM threat to the United States.

Update at 10:37 a.m. ET: At the Pentagon, Gates is describing a new plan that will begin with ship-based "interceptors" and move to land-based defenses — possibly in eastern Europe — around 2015.

Those who say the U.S. is "scrapping" missile defense in Europe, are "misinformed or misreprsenting the reality of what we are doing," Gates just added.

And here's the full audio of President Obama's statement:

Update at 10:30 a.m. ET: CNN's Jill Dougherty says the administration is basically saying that Iran doesn't now have the capability to strike eastern Europe, and that the missile defense system the U.S. will deploy is more likely to be aimed at blocking any short-range launches.

Update at 10:25 a.m. ET: The president just said that he is approving the "unanimous" recommendations of the secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that he is authorizing "stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of America's forces and America's allies."