« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official  (Read 145 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline rangerrebew

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 185,154
RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official
« on: November 22, 2025, 01:29:41 pm »
RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official

The flights are part of a massive U.S. military presence in the Caribbean aimed at putting maximum pressure on Venezuela's Maduro.
Howard Altman, Tyler Rogoway

Updated Nov 20, 2025 9:27 PM EST
 

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.

 

As the U.S. continues to raise the heat on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, online flight trackers tonight have noticed several F/A-18 Super Hornets and a U.S. Air Force RC-135V Rivet Joint electronic surveillance plane flying close to the South American nation’s coastline. A U.S. official told us these flights are part of the pressure campaign ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump against Maduro and specifically to test Venezuela’s air defense capabilities and response times. This is a staple tactic that is critical to assessing the status, locations, operating procedures, and sensitivity of an enemy’s defenses. The data garnered is especially critical for planning offensive operations.

You can catch up with our most recent coverage about what has been dubbed Operation Southern Spear in our story here.


“They are normal operational training flights from the aircraft carrier USS Ford and platforms performing training exercises,” the official told us. “They are also testing Venezuelan sensors and responses, and it is part of the pressure campaign to show U.S. capabilities in the Caribbean.”


A US Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint. (USAF) A US Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint. USAF
In addition to the Super Hornets and Rivet Joint, spotters also tracked B-52H Superfortress bombers in the region as well. The flight is the latest in a series of bomber sorties that have been flying near Venezuela since October 15.

https://www.twz.com/air/rc-135-accompanied-by-fighters-off-venezuela-testing-enemy-air-defenses-u-s-official
Logged
abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.”

Offline rangerrebew

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 185,154
Re: RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2025, 01:31:27 pm »
Why F - 18s and not the dreaded F = 35?  :whistle:
Logged
abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.”

Offline andy58-in-nh

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,871
  • Gender: Male
Re: RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2025, 01:54:00 pm »
Quote from: rangerrebew on November 22, 2025, 01:31:27 pm
Why F - 18s and not the dreaded F = 35?  :whistle:
I believe that the USS Gerald R. Ford currently has only F/A-18's in its Air Wing fighter arsenal. 
Logged
"If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people."    -Calvin Coolidge

Online Wingnut

  • The problem with everything is they try and make it better without realizing the old way is fine.
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,605
  • Gender: Male
Re: RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2025, 05:03:52 pm »
I love this.  We need live exercises like this.  But only if the rules of engagement include splashing the enemy planes and taking out the SAM's
Logged
You don’t become cooler with age but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way to actually be cool.

Online Timber Rattler

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,112
  • Conservative Purist and Patriot
Re: RC-135 Accompanied By Fighters Off Venezuela Testing Maduro’s Air Defenses: U.S. Official
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2025, 05:51:14 pm »
Sorry guys but I just can't get worked up about Venezuela.  It's like seal clubbing.
Logged
aka "nasty degenerate SOB," "worst of the worst at Free Republic," "Garbage Troll," "Neocon Warmonger," "Filthy Piece of Trash," "damn $#%$#@!," "Silly f'er," "POS," "war pig," "neocon scumbag," "insignificant little ankle nipper," "@ss-clown," "neocuck," "termite," "Uniparty Deep stater," "Never Trump sack of dog feces," "avid Bidenista," "filthy Ukrainian," "war whore," "fricking chump," "psychopathic POS," "depraved SOB," "Never Trump Moron," "Lazarus," "sock puppet," and "Timber Bunny."

"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act."  ---George Orwell
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »