"US forces will be here through the relief effort and as long as the Indonesian government needs us to stay," USS Abraham Lincoln skipper Captain Kendall Card told reporters late Wednesday.

The aircraft carrier, with more than 5,000 sailors on board, has been anchored off the provincial capital Banda Aceh providing aid and sending ashore medical teams.

A fleet of Sea Hawk helicopters from the Abraham Lincoln has also been flying food, water and medical supplies into the most isolated regions of Aceh.

Card said his team had been due to return to the United States on January 27 but the mission had been extended.

He did not say when the mission would now end, adding the US forces would be ready to help Indonesia even after the emergency phase was over.

"I think the relief effort is coming to a close and now we're going towards the reconstruction phase. Our helicopters will be here to help the Indonesian government in the reconstruction phase (if asked)," he said.

In preparation for a departure, the US navy has provided the United Nations and militaries from other nations with information on landing zones and flight patterns.

Since their mercy mission began at the start of January, US navy helicopters have flown more than 1,500 trips, carrying some five million pounds of relief supplies.

The helicopters have been vital in getting aid to isolated survivors along Aceh's west coast.

US marine helicopters from the USS Bonhomme Richard had also operated off Banda Aceh, delivering aid in and around the key town of Meulaboh.

Chris Lom, of the intergovernmental International Organization for Migration, said an immediate US withdrawal would "not necessarily" create a problem in aid distribution.

However, it would lead to a reshuffle of some aid distribution channels, he said.

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