WASHINGTON: US plans for a missile defence system in Europe could be delayed well beyond the 2013 target because of findings by Defence Department experts that the interceptors have not been adequately tested.

Administration officials had initially disregarded the findings as they reassured lawmakers the system would work. But with Congress now poised to require additional tests, the department has reversed itself and is planning three trial interceptor launches a process that could take years.

A delay would be a setback for President George W. Bush, who has made the system one of his top military priorities, even as it strains US relations with Russia. A delay would also mean key decisions about whether to proceed with the project would be put off until long after a new president takes office in January, either John McCain, who strongly supports missile defence, or Barack Obama, who has been more sceptical.

The testing concerns were raised in an October report by the Defence Department’s internal testing oversight arm, the Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate. The report was distributed to lawmakers but not released to the public. A copy was obtained by this reporter.

The future of the missile defence system has already been cast in doubt by the United States’ inability to reach an agreement with Poland about basing the interceptors there. Talks have become bogged down in a dispute over military aid.

US plans would place 10 interceptors in Poland, which, in conjunction with radars in the Czech Republic, could identify and shoot down missiles fired by Iran at Europe or the United States. The goal is to have the system operational by 2013. Russia strongly opposes basing the interceptors right across its border and claims the system’s real target would be Russian missiles.

The Bush administration argues that the deployment is urgent because it believes Iran could have long-range missiles by the middle of the next decade.

Democrats, who control Congress, have questioned whether the multibillion-dollar programme is worth the cost, given doubts about Iran’s missile capabilities and uncertainties about whether the missile defence system will work. They have long argued that tests conducted by the Defence Department’s Missile Defence Agency were unrealistic.

“When you can write the test and take the test and grade the test, you are going to look fine, but that is not in the best interest of the American people,” Ellen Tauscher, chairwoman of a House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees missile defence, said in an interview.

The October report by the oversight office raised fresh concerns. It rejected the agency’s claims that previous, successful tests completed on a US-based missile defence system were applicable to the European system. The two systems are different: US-based interceptors have three booster rockets, the European one would have two.It said at least three tests were needed to deal with questions about whether the European system would work.

“Operations in the European theatre present new challenges that must be fully investigated to ensure its overall effectiveness in carrying out the European missile defence mission,” the report said.

The administration continued to insist the system did not need the full series of tests recommended by the report. In a Jan-31 report to Congress, it said the two-stage rockets were “a less complex version” of the three-stage versions, so building the European system would be a “low-risk endeavour”. It did not mention the earlier report by the oversight committee questioning the successful tests.

Lawmakers were not convinced. Under a sweeping bill authorising defence programmes, they sought to bar the Defence Department from proceeding on the missile defence system until it had performed new tests. The requirements are in separate versions of the bill pending before the Senate and House of Representatives.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, called the requirements “common sense”.

“It is important to know that this system will work effectively before we buy or deploy it,” he said in a statement.

The bill may change as it goes through more votes before final passage, but the testing requirements have strong support from the Democratic majority and are unlikely to be significantly revised, congressional aides say.

Anticipating passage of the legislation, the missile agency has agreed to conduct the three tests and will try to complete them by the end of 2010. But the agency has a history of delays in its testing programme and a spokesman, Rick Lehner, concedes that the schedule is ambitious.

“It takes a significant amount of time to conduct three flight tests. They can take a long time to design, a long time to execute and a long time to do the post-test analysis,” he said. “It’s not impossible, but we have been running one to two a year in recent years.”

The delays could be more extensive if requirements in the house version should become law. That bill says the tests also would have to be certified as successful before the agency could order the necessary parts for the interceptors. Lehner said that it could take up to three years to order assembled interceptors.—AP