The United States is today planning to order a fifth aircraft carrier to head for the Gulf for a possible war with Iraq.
US officials said the USS Kitty Hawkwould be told to depart the western Pacific Ocean within days and move through the Indian Ocean to join four other US carriers and a British aircraft carrier near Iraq.
The Kitty Hawkis at sea and and its movement would add about 75 warplanes aboard the ship to hundreds of US naval and Air Force aircraft now near Iraq. The Kitty Hawkis accompanied by other warships carrying cruise missiles.
Three US carriers are already within striking range of Iraq - the USS Abraham Lincolnand the USS Constellationin the Gulf, and the USS Harry S. Trumanin the Mediterranean Sea. A fourth carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, set sail from the western Atlantic for the region on Tuesday.
The British aircraft carrier Ark Royaland its battle group earlier passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and is expected to be on station soon in the Gulf.