Pentagon to Send Stealth to Mideast : Military: Deployment of the fighter plane and aircraft carrier Kennedy will enable the U.S. to strike quickly.

The Air Force’s once-secret F-117 Stealth fighter will be dispatched to the Middle East, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

The Bush Administration also sent the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy from Norfolk, Va., to the Mideast on Wednesday, with dozens of strike planes on its decks.

Hours after the Kennedy left its port, Administration officials said that the Pentagon issued orders to Navy ships in Mideast waters to stop, search and turn away, “using the minimum force required,” commercial vessels trying to enter Iraqi-controlled ports.

For the first time since the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraqi trade last week, the directives gave U.S. ships explicit guidelines for enforcing the “interdiction” operation promised by President Bush.

However, hours later a knowledgeable source said that the orders were withdrawn to allow Administration lawyers to make changes in the directives. An official described the proposed changes as “not trivial” but said they do not bear upon the main issue--the use of force by Navy ships.

The deployment of the F-117 and the carrier Kennedy will greatly increase the ability of U.S. forces to strike quickly at heavily defended economic and military targets in Iraq.

The Stealth fighter, so-called because of its radar-eluding qualities, was first used in last year’s invasion of Panama.

The Stealth’s deployment “would give the President an option of making Iraq pay a significant price on some pretty significant targets,” a defense official said.

In announcing the F-117’s imminent deployment, the Pentagon departed from its practice of confirming the departure of forces only after they have left their U.S. bases. Officials suggested that the announcement was intended as a major escalation in the war of nerves between Washington and Baghdad.

At the same time, the commander of Castle Air Force Base told the Associated Press on Wednesday that several B-52 bombers, which were used in the Vietnam War to conduct massive bombing raids, have been sent overseas since the start of the Middle East crisis.

Col. Eugene Famulare, commander of the 93rd Bombardment Wing at the base 120 miles southeast of San Francisco, said that the mission destination was classified, Pentagon officials said that the planes are easily within range of Iraq.

The Pentagon did not say when or how many of the Air Force’s 59 Stealth fighters would go, or where they would be based. But defense officials said that the planes would likely leave sometime in the coming week for bases in Saudi Arabia.

In last year’s Panama invasion, two F-117s flew from their home base at Tonapah, Nev., and dropped 2,000-pound bombs outside a military barracks in Panama. While the planes were touted for their precision bombing ability, one of them dropped its bomb hundreds of yards from its target.

The Air Force used at least six F-117s for the Panama mission. A major strike on Iraqi targets likely would require dozens of the chunky black craft.

The F-117 also is equipped to strikes at night, said officials. That capability, paired with the plane’s radar-eluding design, could allow the plane to slip undetected into the airspace of some of Iraq’s most valuable oil facilities, military research offices and manufacturing plants.

Other U.S. forces also moved toward Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Air Force F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft designed to attack anti-aircraft radar began the journey to Saudi Arabia from George Air Force Base, near Victorville, Calif. Elements of the First Marine Expeditionary Brigade headquartered in Hawaii also began moving to join in the operation. And the U.S. Navy ship Curtiss, carrying parts and repair equipment for Marine aircraft, left Port Hueneme, Calif.

Also Wednesday, Marine warehouse ships began unloading equipment for the Marines in Saudi Arabia. Additional Army support units left Ft. Bragg, N.C., and the Army’s 17th Infantry Mechanized Brigade from Ft. Benning, Ga., began moving to the region.

Meanwhile, the Bush Administration announced the proposed sale to Egypt of 46 F-16 jet fighters and other weapons in a deal worth nearly $2 billion.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said that the sale was “totally unrelated to the current crisis” but added that “as part of our response to the current gulf crisis, we will review requests from our friends for additional arms sales on a case-by-case basis.”