'Floating air bases' bring military might in striking distance

ABOARD USS HARRY S. TRUMAN -- Around Iraq's borders, the Pentagon is struggling to persuade allies to host U.S. troops and warplanes needed for a possible attack. At sea, however, America's military power is unhindered and growing to possibly the biggest concentration of warships since the 1991 Gulf War.

Imposing naval flotillas -- with aircraft carriers as their mighty centerpieces -- are taking greater prominence in strategic planning for a possible war against Iraq as obstacles are raised to ground deployments, officers say.

"I think all of the aircraft carriers will serve as a floating air base," said Capt. Mark A. Vance, commander of the air wing aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, now in the eastern Mediterranean.

"We are a sovereign platform that operates at international sea and airspace, and that gives us a degree of flexibility that is not shared when someone relies on a host nation," said Vance, a native of Montana.

But military analysts note carriers come with distinct advantages and limitations.

They are mobile and can deliver round-the-clock airstrikes with more than 60 warplanes each. But the Navy fighter-bombers mostly carry a limited number of precision-guided bombs, experts said. Only missions from land airfields can carry the heavier weapons needed to open deep bunkers, carpet bomb or strike big targets.

Opportunity for action

Carriers "allow some opportunity to attack ground targets should the U.S. Air Force not be able to base its aircraft within the region or nearby," Joanna Kidd, a naval analyst with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Wednesday.

She noted that carriers saw extensive use at early stages of the Gulf War.

"They were only used really in the first three or four days of the air campaign because the U.S. Air Force was able to use Saudi Arabia," she said.

But the coalition forged to fight Iraq in 1991 was far broader and stronger than the current U.S.-led pressure against Saddam Hussein.

Even key NATO allies such as Turkey, which shares a border with northern Iraq, are balking at the possibility of hosting Air Force bombers and tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

Opposition to a U.S. campaign in Turkey has reportedly forced planners to scale back from initial plans to base 80,000 U.S. troops there. Now, planners are reportedly considering 15,000 to 20,000 troops.

Another important regional ally, Saudi Arabia, is also reluctant to host a large number of U.S. ground forces. Saudi Arabia was the main staging area for ground forces during the Gulf War.

The Pentagon has turned to smaller and more distant places, such as Qatar and Oman, as it tries to organize its biggest military build up in more than a decade. In Qatar, the U.S. military has two bases: Camp As Sayliyah, where the U.S. Central Command has a mobile headquarters, and Al Udeid air base, where a midair refueling squadron, F15 fighter wing and drive-through maintenance hangars are in place.

In addition, B52 bomber squadrons operate from the British-controlled island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

"Carriers are good for smaller conflicts, but if you need to have a big war you are really going to have to get bases around there ... because it's just a lot more efficient," said Ivan Eland, director of defense policy studies at Washington's CATO Institute.

Meanwhile, the Navy is moving more firepower into the region.

Military planners could send up to six carrier battle groups -- half the U.S. fleet -- within striking distance of Iraq, officials say.

The USS Constellation battle group already is operating in the northern Gulf and the USS Harry S. Truman is in the eastern Mediterranean. They will be joined by the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is conducting training exercises off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is said to be considering even more deployments.

Possibilities include the dispatch of the USS Kitty Hawk from its home port in Japan, the USS Nimitz in San Diego and the USS George Washington from Norfolk, Va.

"We are 4.5 acres of U.S. territory, and basically we can show up wherever we need to," said Capt. Michael R. Groothousen, commander of the USS Harry S. Truman.

In addition to the F-14 and F/A-18 fighter jets squadrons aboard the Norfolk-based USS Truman, its battle group comprises 12 ships, including five destroyers.

One carrier heading for the Gulf -- the USS Abraham Lincoln -- is carrying the first overseas deployment of the new F/A-18 Super Hornet, which has longer range and weapons than older F/A-18 warplanes. The USS Lincoln had been in port at Perth, Australia, for repairs and departed Monday.

"If worst comes to worst ... We might be forced to rely on our floating assets. In principle it can be done," said Ehsan Ahrari, a professor of national security and strategy at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk.

He said, however, that Arab states currently reluctant to pledge full-scale assistance could open their air bases to American forces should war break out. Ahrari said they could include "quietly Oman and even more quietly Saudi Arabia."

"We are not 100 percent dependent on availability of those facilities, even though it would make military operations imminently more doable," he said.