So Putin is not so much against this "defence shield" being established as being against where the US intends setting it up.

I listened to him the other day when he outlined his proposal for setting the system up in Azerbaijan.

He knows full well that the system is purely defensive and that in itself it can only pose an indirect threat to Russia and her people.

As someone has already said on this thread any IRBM hit by one of these interceptors must come down somewhere. The amount of damage done will depend if the warhead has been activated.

The Americans selected the Czech Republic and Poland for their optimum sites (they should know, it is after all their system). They are clearly looking at a rogue launch from Iran targeted at Europe. I surmise that with this system the radar has to acquire the target and have enough time to pass the required firing solution to the anti-missile-missile site, all of which has to be done before the IRBM reaches max height, i.e. the IRBM has to be hit while it is climbing.

Vlad Putin's concern is that once hit from a missile fired from Poland the knocked down missile, irrespective of whether it has armed itself or not, poses a threat as it could very well land in Russian territory.

His proposal is that both the acquisition radar and the missiles are based in Azerbaijan and that they acquire the IRBM immediately after launch with the IRBM still in boost phase. You knock the fuel off the IRBM and it tumbles into the Caspian, great if you're a Russian, bloody awful if you're a Sturgeon.

I haven't got a clue if the system as currently configured can cope with the short reaction times required to fulfil the demands put on it by Putin's suggestion.

I agree with BB, if the Iranians are developing nuclear capable IRBM's with ranges out to 4500km, then a defence system against that threat has to be put in place. I also agree with Wolfgang that IRBM's fired from Iran, North Korea, or wherever do not pose the most likely threat. That threat is the bomb smuggled into a country and detonated by some anonymous international terrorist organisation, that bomb having been supplied by some "rogue state".