Two US fighter jets were tracked circling the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries. The F/A-18 Super Hornets appeared on flight tracking sites near Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city, at around 13:00 (17:00 GMT), before circling the gulf for about 40 minutes. A US defense official told the Associated Press that the F/A-18 jets had conducted a 'routine training flight' in the area.
The incident comes amid a wave of US strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the White House said were trafficking drugs to the US from Venezuela. Experts have raised questions over the legality of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of using the strikes to destabilize the country and oust him from power.
In an interview conducted with Politico the day before the jets approached Venezuela's coastline, Trump declared that Maduro's days in power were 'numbered', and declined to comment on whether US troops could be deployed to the country. A separate jet, an EA-18G Growler, also appeared just before the F/A-18s on the tracking site FlightRadar24. Data shows the jet flew loops just north of Venezuela's coast.
They are the latest in a number of unusual US air force activities that have been tracked since September. B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers previously flew up to and along the Venezuelan coast.
But the F/A-18s, capable of engaging targets both on the ground and in the air, appear to be the first to approach the Venezuelan coastline so publicly in recent months. The F/A-18s came within 20 nautical miles of the coastline, flight tracking data showed, but the US official stated that the jets remained in international airspace.
Neither the F/A-18s or the Growler showed a point of origin or a destination on FlightRadar24, and all three aircraft only turned on their transponders when they arrived near the Venezuelan coastline. Justin Crump, head of the risk consultancy Sibylline, suggested the move was intended to 'support the administration's signalling and put pressure on the [Venezuelan] leadership'.
The F/A-18s - operating under the callsigns RHINO11 and RHINO12 - flew six loops up and down the Gulf of Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Growler jet - flying under the codename GRIZZLY2 - also flew circles along the coast.
Greg Bagwell, a former RAF air marshal, explained that the flights appeared to be 'probing' Venezuelan defenses and checking for responses related to defense systems. He highlighted that the Growlers would have been listening for signals intelligence while the Super Hornets provided air defense cover. This could indicate the early gathering of intelligence for subsequent operations, or serve as a warning.
Moreover, Crump noted the jets' capacity for testing jamming capabilities, sending a message to Venezuela's leadership that their systems may not be reliable.
The US has deployed troops, ships, and jets to the Caribbean recently, officially to combat drug trafficking in the area. On Tuesday, the US Southern Command released photos of an F/A-18 operating from the USS Gerald Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, sent to the Caribbean.
Images and tracking data gathered indicate at least nine military vessels have been deployed to the region recently. Additionally, satellite images show that a previously closed airbase in Puerto Rico has been reactivated, with repairs ongoing and F-35s stationed there, heightening the military presence in the area.
