Since the terrorist attacks, Bush has greatly bolstered that force.
The fleet
Immediately after the attack, he ordered the aircraft carrier Enterprise and its battle group to remain in the region after the carrier Carl Vinson arrived in the Persian Gulf, instantly doubling the naval firepower normally stationed there.
Each carrier has roughly 75 aircraft -- half of which are F-14s and F-18s attack jets -- capable of conducting round-the-clock airstrikes for days at a time.
Two other carriers -- the Theodore Roosevelt, headed to the Mediterranean Sea, and the Kitty Hawk, which recently steamed out of its home port in Japan -- could also join the operation, but have not yet received orders to do so, officials said.
Bush also ordered the Air Force to send nearly 50 combat aircraft to the region, including B-52 and B-1 bombers now on Diego Garcia, the British island in the Indian Ocean, according to officials familiar with the preparations.
Although Diego Garcia is thousands of miles from Afghanistan, the bombers have more than enough range to reach their targets.
The B-52s, Vietnam-era bombers in most cases older than the pilots flying them, are equipped with 20 cruise missiles able to travel as far as 2,414km to their targets. The B-1s, which as recently as NATO's air war against Serbia in 1999 were relegated to what the Air Force no longer likes to call "carpet bombing," now carry up to 24 satellite-guided single tonne bombs.
The Air Force has also dispatched an armada of aerial refuelers, reconnaissance aircraft and other support aircraft to bases in Turkey, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia, bringing the total of American aircraft in the region to more than 300, the officials said.
All told, roughly 6,000 additional American troops have poured into the region since the attacks. Those new troops include additional security forces as well as Army Special Forces units.
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