The 1,360 kilogram (3,000 pound) terrain-hugging weapon, which has been used in strikes against Iraq and in last year's air war with Yugoslavia, has never before been pre-positioned outside the continental United States, the officials said.

But for the past two years, the air force has been working to turn Andersen Air Force Base on Guam into a forward operating location for long-range US bombers, Air Force Captain Karl Hines, a spokesman for the air force's Pacific command in Hawaii said.

"In terms of putting CALCMs there, it gives us the capability of launching from the continental United States, doing a strike, returning to Andersen and reloading with additional CALCMs instead of having to return all the way back to the continental United States," he said.

Hines said the cruise missile transfer was not a response to activity by any other country or to intelligence data.

Rather, he said, the cruise missiles were being stored in Andersen Air Force Base because it is an ideal location from which to project power throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

A major B-52 bomber base during the Vietnam War, Andersen was used in 1996 by B-52 bombers which launched cruise missile strikes against Iraq, and it has hosted rare overseas deployments by B-2 stealth bombers.

"We're really putting this capability in Andersen because it is a strategic forward location and we can respond to numerous regions if we need to," he said.

Potential trouble spots in the part of the world covered by the US Pacific Command include the Korean peninsula, the Taiwan Straits and the nuclear armed India and Pakistan.

The Gulf lies outside of the Pacific Command's area of operation but within reach of long-range bombers operating from Guam. It is a closer reloading point for B-52 bombers operating from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia than is the continental United States, the officials said.

Major General Thomas Waskow, director of air and space operations of the US air forces in the Pacific, was quoted by the command's news service as saying that the move makes CALCMs "immediately accessible."

Because Guam, the largest island in the Marianas archipelago, is US territory, the United States can respond to global contingencies without having to ask another country's permission, he was quoted as saying.

"The second advantage is that it is centrally located allowing us to reach any point in the Asia Pacific region within 12 hours should the need arise," Waskow said.

Hines would not say how many CALCMs were transferred to Guam. The Washington Times, which first reported the story, said several dozen were moved.

Eight B-52 bombers transported the weapons to the base between August 9 and 14, he said.

"Trishul" (Trident) was launched from a national missile test zone in eastern Orissa state at 5:05 p.m. (1135 GMT).

The multi-role missile has a range of 50 kilometres (31 miles).

It was fired using a radar line-of-sight guidance and powered by a two-stage solid propellant system, the sources said.

Trishul is part of India's ambitious missile development programme launched in 1983.