AT SEA: PILOTS ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN INTENSIFY THEIR TRAINING MISSION AHEAD OF A POSSIBLE CONFLICT AGAINST IRAQ

Record ID: 588578

  • Title: AT SEA: PILOTS ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN INTENSIFY THEIR TRAINING MISSION AHEAD OF A POSSIBLE CONFLICT AGAINST IRAQ
  • Date: 8th March 2003
  • Summary: (W4) ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN THE ARABIAN GULF (MARCH 8, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV OF FLIGHT DECK 0.03 2. MCU FLIGHT DECK CREWMEMBER SIGNALLING TO AIRCRAFT 0.08 3. SLV F-18 HORNETS LAUNCHING OFF FLIGHT DECK 0.14 4. SV CREWMEMBERS WATCHING 0.18 5. SLV S-3 VIKING COMING IN TO LAND 0.23 6. SLV VIEWS S-3 VIKING LANDING (2 SHOTS) 0.32 7. LV F-14 TOMCAT LANDING 0.42 8. LAS F-14 TOMCAT TAXIING 0.47 9. SLV FLIGHT DECK IN THE LATE AFTERNOON 0.51 10. SLV CREWMEMBERS ON FLIGHT DECK 0.55 11. LV OF DECK WITH LAUNCHING PLANE 1.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AT SEA, ARABIAN GULF
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAAOU72CUGJFZYAAM6PMN0GYBN1
  • Story Text: Pilots aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have been
    intensyfying their training missions ahead of a possible
    conflict against Iraq.



    Warplanes practised departures and landings on board
    the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday (March 8).

    The ship is one of three aircraft carriers in the Gulf,
    its more than 70 warplanes currently engaged in patrolling
    a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.

    Two more carriers are in the Mediterranean and a sixth has
    just been deployed to the region.

    The Lincoln has been deployed for more than eight months,
    its normal six-month term extended because of the tension with
    Iraq.

    The United States and Britain are pushing the United
    Nations to set a deadline of March 17 for Iraqi President
    Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. disarmament resolutions or
    face invasion.

    Under the United States and British military build-up some
    300,000 U.S. and British troops have been sent to the region
    to put pressure on Iraq into disarming. Baghdad denies having
    proscribed weapons of mass destruction.

    Pilots aboard the Lincoln have enforcing the non-fly zone
    in Southern Iraq as well as taking part in air support
    missions for Operation Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan last
    autumn.

    The captain of the lead U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf
    is confident U.S. forces can unleash lethal destructive power
    on Iraq, even without any element of surprise.

    Captain Kendall Card acknowledged that a March 17 deadline
    for a U.S.-led war against Iraq would remove what little
    surprise might remain.

    Card is no stranger to tension in the Gulf, having served
    as a helicopter pilot in the 1991 Gulf War. He says the
    difference this time for him is that he is more senior, taking
    responsibility for 5,500 sailors aboard the Lincoln.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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