Stealth bombers prepare for Gulf

Stealth bombers prepare for Gulf

B-2 bombers were used in Afghanistan and Kosovo

The US air force is preparing to position its B-2 stealth bombers ahead of a possible strike against Iraq.

Air force sources told the BBC that four of the radar-evading aircraft are to be deployed to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

It could be the first time that the aircraft launch operations from bases away from their home in Whiteman, Missouri.

Lieutenant Matt Hasson, from Whiteman, said the 509th Bomber Wing, which has 21 B-2s, had received deployment orders but he could not confirm details.

"It is the first [overseas] deployment in support of potential combat operations for this weapons system," he told BBC News Online.

The orders are part of the United States' continuing preparations for possible war.

Early role

There are already nearly 210,000 troops massed near Iraq, including more than 110,000 soldiers in Kuwait.

The US navy has also announced that it is sending a sixth aircraft carrier to the Gulf.

B-2 bombers were used in Afghanistan in 2001 and Kosovo in 1999 and are expected to be the air force's weapon of choice for opening night air attacks on heavily defended areas like Baghdad.

B-2 STEALTH BOMBER

Crew: Two

Payload: 40,000 pounds (18,140 kilograms) of conventional or nuclear weapons

Wingspan: 172 feet (52.12 metres)

Range: Intercontinental

Click here for the B-2 fact file

They can carry up to 40,000 pounds (18,140 kilograms) of nuclear or conventional bombs and, over Kosovo, were the first to use the new JDAM satellite-guided bomb.

Specially designed climate-controlled shelters for the aircraft, which protect their radar-absorbing skin, have been built in Fairford, UK, and on the British island of Diego Garcia.

During the Afghanistan campaign, flights took off from Whiteman, attacked Afghanistan, and carried on to Diego Garcia where a fresh aircrew made the 30-hour flight home.

General John Jumper, the US air force chief of staff, recently told reporters: "Put four or five B-2s anywhere in the world and you can have a fairly devastating effect."

Also at Diego Garcia is the giant American hospital ship, Comfort, which was deployed there in January with a minimum crew.

Now its full 800-strong medical team is being mobilised.

BBC Pentagon correspondent Nick Childs said the sixth aircraft carrier being sent to the Gulf was unlikely to arrive for a month and its main job will be to replace one of the five carriers already deployed.