Is the Caribbean a coming hotspot for US military strategy? Recently, one of the largest troop mobilizations witnessed in many years has taken place in the Caribbean, with high-tech aircraft, warships, and Special Ops placed threateningly near Venezuela. These military mobilizations are officially described on grounds connected with narcotics interdiction and support for sanctions enforcement but obviously have an altogether larger agenda.
This specific build-up, known as Operation Southern Spear, integrates the ability for fleet dominance, air power from fifth-generation aircraft, special forces, and an electronic warfare role in its multi-domain approach. For military planners concerned with national security, these details communicate not only deterrent power, but also a war-winning strategy ready for activation. Eight factors are at play in informing this unprecedented military presença in this region of the Caribbean.
1. USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group
The nucleus of the naval striking power is composed of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald L. Butler aka Gerald R. Ford, accompanied by five destroyers and two cruisers, along with supporting ships. The air group of the aircraft carrier has F/A-18E/F Super Hornets strike planes, EA-18G Growler electronic strike planes, E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes air command planes, as well as MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. The Tomahawk missile-struck power of the aircraft carrier strike group has the ability to strike thousands of miles into the land mass; the strike power of the attack sub has been maintained from the land,
2. Amphibious Ready Group & Marine Expeditionary Unit
With a force of three assault ships that maintain an amphibious readiness group with the 22nd Marine Expedited Unit onboard is an ability to rapidly discharge thousands of Marines onto land through the use of Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, helicopters, and Harrier planes onboard these ships that have the ability to rapidly discharge their cargo onto land through their landing capabilities. This is an instrument of influence of an amphibious support group with rapid land support planes that places the force in an offense posture.
3. Focus on Puerto Rico – Fifth Generation Fighters
Forward air power has grown exponentially with roughly 20 F-35s, comprising US Air Force F-35As and Marine Corps F-35Bs operating out of the reactivated Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. Indeed, there is a report that says, The largest concentration of fifth generation fighters ever recorded in Cuba has put the strike capability for stealth jets deep inside Venezuela. The F-35As from the 158th Fighter Wing based out of Vermont have increased internal cargo capacity and an increased range compared to the B-sisters.
4. Special Operations Aircraft and Elite Forces
With the addition of the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at Cannon AFB, there seems to be operational readiness for conducting High Risk Infiltration/Extraction missions. The 27th Special Operations Wing, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and 75th Ranger Regiment train their personnel in seizing airfields, conducting precision raids, as well as security support missions for Tier 1 forces. Such a mix provides the capability for aerial support in rapidly inserting Special Operation forces into a contested zone and sustaining them within a hostile environment.
5. Electronic Warfare & ISR Platforms
There are also sophisticated ISR and e attack forces available in the theatre such as MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon assault aircraft based in the Gulf of Mexico and in Eindhoven in NATO Netherlands as well as in the UK in Eindhoven in the UK itself and in other forces such as advanced AC-130G Gunship and special forces only available in Compass Calls aircraft. The Compass Calls communications and radar element suppression expertise provides a potent complement to the F-35s fusion expertise to deliver a kill web in the EM environment, stated Carl Hage of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a hearing before the U.S.–Venezuelan Crisis Task Forces Strategic Task Force in Congress earlier this summer.
6. Bomber Strike Packages and Demonstrations
There is also a rotational bomber presence of B-1B, B-2, as well as B-52H bombers that cycles between mainland USA and the Caribbean. One of the missions has been briefed as the bomber attack demo in the vicinity of Venezuelan airspace. It is able to project the capability of striking within long range with the help of the carrier air wing.
7. Forward Logistics and Contingency Response
The 921st Contingency Response Squadron has established a temporary air base located at Las Américas International Airport, which is situated in the Dominican Republic. This team of experts is knowledgeable in initial response and functioning to activate a bare base airfield, supporting the operation of the C-17 transport to interconnect operational units from the mainland to Puerto Rico and sea forces.
8. Maritime Interdiction and Blockade Operations
On the direction of the presidency, the US military has taken control of oil-filled ships that had been sanctioned by the US in order to blockade Venezuelas source of funds. The US Coast Guard, assisted by the US Navy and Air Force, has intercepted ships that belong to what has come to be known as the shadow fleet.
9. Strategic Signaling and Regional Impact
The force density is not only for fighting narcotrafficking, analysts have noted. Other countries with Caribbean ambitions have also been kept out, such as Russia, China, and Iran. The lack of clarity about where enforcement ends and coercive force begins is what concerns Latin American countries, states Laurence Norricks from The Stratford Report. As reported by Bloomberg, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David Deptula aptly put it: They are prepositioning forces to take action…the question that remains is to accomplish what?
Indeed, it can be said that in regard to its Caribbean presence in line with Operation Southern Spear, this is in fact the deliberate use of multi-domain sprawling ability in the sea, air, land, and electromagnetic domains, depending upon the bowned theater. Though related in line with the enforcement related to anti-narcotics operations, and the enforcement related to sanctions, certainly, it does provide the United States with the capability to blockade Caribbean nations and strike inside Venezuela.
