Moving the bomber that has never launched combat missions from overseas closer to potential targets would strengthen the hand of a commander such as Gen. Tommy Franks of the U.S. Central Command, who would run any U.S.-led war against Iraq.


"That's what we want to give Gen. Franks," said Col. Doug Raaberg, commander of the Whiteman Air Force, Missouri-based 509th Bomb Wing. "...the firepower he needs and the flexibility to do what he needs to do."


"We will move this to a forward location so that we can cycle the aircraft as rapidly as necessary," he told reporters flown in for a rare public display of the wedge-shaped bomber on Wednesday.


"We're about ready to step into a new era with the B-2," he added, referring to forward deployment. The radar-evading B-2 is capable of flying more than 6,000 miles (9,600 km) without needing to refuel while carrying 40,000 pounds of bombs.


President George W. Bush has threatened to attack Iraq unless President Saddam Hussein agrees to United Nations-verified disarmament.


SPEARHEADS BOMBING CAMPAIGNS


The charcoal-gray, bat-winged B-2 is the most advanced U.S. long-range strike aircraft, capable of dropping 16 satellite-guided 2,000-pound (900 kg) Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs or up to eight 5,000-pound (2,250 kg) GBU-37 earth-penetrating "bunker buster" bombs.


It is designed to "kick in the door," as the Air Force puts it, by knocking out anti-aircraft guns, communications hubs, radar systems and other high-value military assets.


Under standard Air Force practice, the B-2 clears the way for other U.S. warplanes, including Boeing B-52 and the B-1B bombers, which lack the B-2's "stealth" technology. The B-2's low observability stems from reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar "signatures."


Built by Northrop Grumman Corp., the B-2 spearheaded the U.S.-led air campaign that helped drive the Taliban from Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on the United States. In doing so, it flew record 44-hour missions from central Missouri, in the U.S. heartland, before changing crews and refuelling in Diego Garcia for the flight home.


In its combat debut, the B-2 flew non-stop round trips from Missouri on the first night of the war in the rump Yugoslavia in March 1999, knocking out Serbian command bunkers, radar installations, communications sites, bridges, arms factories and other heavily defended targets. The Air Force plans to shift B-2s to Diego Garcia, a British base, and to the Royal Air Force base at Fairford, as well as eventually to the Pacific island of Guam, a U.S. territory, Raaberg said.


Asked when the rebasing would begin, Raaberg said, "When tasked" by commanding officers.


The bombers needed special climate-controlled shelters or hangars to protect their low observability characteristics after routine maintenance. Five such shelters, each costing $2.5 million and capable of handling two bombers by rotation, are being procured for Diego Garcia and Fairford, Raaberg said.


Officials did not specify how many of the United States' 21 B-2s, which cost $2.1 billion each, would be moved abroad.