U.S. NAVY SAID INCREASING PRESENCE NEAR GULF
Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger has
ordered the U.S. Navy to increase its presence near the Gulf in
an effort to fulfil President Reagan's pledge to keep oil
flowing to Europe and Japan, The New York Times reported.
    The newspaper quoted Pentagon officials as saying the Navy
would keep the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on station in the
Arabian Sea and the rest of the Indian Ocean until May, three
months longer than planned.
    The Navy would then have a carrier battle group of six to
eight warships in the area at all times rather than part of the
time, as happens now, the paper said.
    The paper said that last month U.S. Intelligence sources
said they had spotted land-based anti-ship missiles of a
Chinese design known in the West as the HY-2 near the Strait of
Hormuz.
    It said their purpose was seen as a signal Iran was ready
to continue and perhaps step up the Gulf shipping war against
Iraq.
    U.S. Carriers or battleships would sail out of range of
those missiles, but within striking distance, the paper quoted
officials as saying.
    From several hundred miles at sea, carriers could launch
aircraft bombing runs or missile strikes, and battleships could
fire long-range missiles, the paper said.
 REUTER
