The addition of the carrier means that the United States now has well over 300 combat aircraft in the region, as well as more warships that can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, US defence officials said.

“The Lincoln is in the Arabian Sea,” said Lieutenant Cornelia Shultz, a navy spokesman.

The guided missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton, the guided missile cruisers USS Shiloh and USS Mobile Bay, and the guided missile frigate USS Reuben James were travelling with the carrier, she said.

The Lincoln joins its sisters carriers the USS Constellation, which is in the Gulf, and the USS Harry Truman, which is in the eastern Mediterranean.

A fourth aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is expected to leave for the Mediterranean later this week when it completes crew training off Puerto Rico.

Two other carriers, the Japan-based USS Kitty Hawk and the east coast-based USS George Washington, have been on alert to deploy on short notice.

Military analysts say four or five aircraft carrier battle groups should give the US military the punch it needs for an all-out attack on Iraq. Six carriers were deployed in the Gulf region during the 1991 invasion.

Aboard each of the carriers are about 80 aircraft, including about 50 fighter aircraft. The Lincoln is the only carrier in the fleet with a squadron of F/A-18E/F, the navy’s most advanced fighter.

The air force also has deployed B-1 bombers, F-15E strike fighters and F-16 fighters to land bases in the region. B-52 bombers and scores of other fighter aircraft were in the region already for operations in Afghanistan and to patrol no fly zones over northern and southern Iraq.

Air Force F-117 stealth fighters were scheduled to begin flying out of Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico late Monday on the first leg of a deployment to the region.

Still awaiting orders are the B-2 stealth bombers, which are likely to open any air assault on Baghdad.

They could fly bombing missions directly from their base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, or move to forward bases in England and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

In a message to the troops, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the buildup against Iraq would be disruptive.

“To assist this diplomatic offensive and to preserve future options, adjustments to current mobilization, deployment and rotation cycles may be necessary, adjustments that may mean longer tours of duty than you may have expected.”

“While the times, places and conditions of deployment cannot now be precisely known, we do recognize the uncertainty these circumstances may create for those in uniform, the civilians who work beside them, and the families and loved ones, without whose support their sacrifices would not be possible,” he said.

“Be assured that the president will not decide to commit forces unless conditions require it, and only as a last resort,” Rumsfeld wrote. “Should action be necessary, you will have what you need to carry out the missions assigned.”—AFP