He United States military siege is closing in on Venezuela.
The incursions of aircraft commanded from the Pentagon into Venezuelan airspace have gone from anecdotal – almost like probe balloons – to being numerous, and without an apparent response from Caracas.
Several weeks ago, an undisclosed number of US Navy F/A-18 fighters They entered the Venezuelan air control area on several occasions.
They were short-term incursions without leaving the limits of the airspace of some of the most important regions of the country such as the Gulf of Venezuela, the city of Maracaibo or even Maiquetía, relatively close to the Caracas airport.
The Bolivarian Armed Forces were unable to repel the incursions. And the Pentagon decided to double down.
Since the beginning of December, with high frequency—the last time being just yesterday—US warplanes have been flying over Nicolás Maduro’s airspace.
Drones of all types and capacities, electronic warfare aircraft or those dedicated to early warning are some examples of the systems deployed. Or at least those that have been seen.
Screenshot with several US aircraft in Venezuelan airspace
One of the most notable aspects of these incursions is that they appear on websites and applications dedicated to aircraft tracking, such as Flightradar24.
Military aircraft, by their very nature, can be shown or hidden of these online services on demand for security reasons.
The fact that they have decided to expose the raids for everyone to see may mean one more provocation to Maduro and its military leadership.
A key player in all these operations is the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest in the entire US fleet, which serves as the spearhead of the projection of US air capabilities.
From an undisclosed location and strictly protected by other warships, the Gerald R. Ford serves as a floating and roving air base, adapting to the needs of the mission.
In addition, some fighters based in Caribbean locations such as Puerto Rico have been identified and, yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago announced full collaboration with the US in this regard.
The electronic warfare aircraft identified are the F-18 Growler, which fly in the region with the callsigns Grizzly 1 and Grizzly 2.
According to Flightradar24, these Grizzlys have always been accompanied by Conventional F/A-18 in its naval versionmuch more capable in terms of attack and defense than the electronic warfare Growlers.
The F/A-18 of the US Navy fly with the callsign Rhino and with various numbering in the region.
A few miles offshore, the US Navy has also deployed the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye. It is an early warning aircraft especially focused on the detection of other aerial assets.
Regarding military drones, they have been identified in several times to the MQ-4C Tritonspecialized in maritime surveillance.
Continuing with this scenario, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warns of a “potentially dangerous situation” for aircraft operating in the region.
This past Sunday, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, assured that the country has enhanced the operational autonomy of the Integrated Airspace Surveillance and Control System, without this having any effect on the US incursions.
“With its modern radars, missile systems, anti-aircraft artillery and the use of aircraft in close coordination with the Bolivarian Military Aviation, the CODAI (Comprehensive Aerospace Defense Command) has become a vanguard in the comprehensive defense of the nation,” he added.