THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 24, 1995 TAG: 9510240316
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
F-16 fighters from Air Force bases in Georgia and South Carolina are heading for Bahrain to boost U.S. air power as a hedge against Iraqi military threats in the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon said Monday.
In all, 18 F-16 jets will form an ``air expeditionary force'' in Bahrain to compensate for a temporary loss of U.S. aircraft carrier coverage in the gulf, the Pentagon said.
The first F-16s are to leave on Thursday and arrive in Bahrain on Saturday. The 18 planes will return from there no later than Dec. 31, a Pentagon announcement said.
The Clinton administration had asked Bahrain for permission to place an extra 30 warplanes in Bahrain, but Bahrain limited the force to 18. The arrangement was made in consultation with other U.S. allies in the gulf, the Pentagon said.
The F-16s are from the 347th Wing at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Officials at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., which is in charge of U.S. forces in the gulf, said that for security reasons they would not disclose how many planes from each base will go.
The U.S. Air Force is calling the extra group of warplanes an air expeditionary force, meaning it could respond on short notice to threats not only to Bahrain but elsewhere in the U.S.-protected gulf. Sixty U.S. aircraft already are based permanently on Bahrain and a similar number at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon is concerned about a temporary loss of air power now that the Independence, with about 75 aircraft aboard, has ended its tour of duty in the Persian Gulf and headed back to its home station in Japan. There is no aircraft carrier in the gulf now; the nearest is the America, in the Mediterranean Sea.
The carrier scheduled to be in the gulf next is the Nimitz, based at Bremerton, Wash., which is not due to arrive there until January, Navy officials said.
There have been gaps in U.S. aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf before, but this time it causes the Pentagon extra concern because of developments in Iraq. by CNB