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A B-52 bomber from Minot Air Pressure Base, Mont., flew over the Caribbean Sea and close to Venezuela on Nov. 24, based on open-source flight monitoring information—the second time in 4 days such a mission has unfolded.
A spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command declined to touch upon operational issues. However officers have confirmed comparable earlier flights, and the plane flew with its transponder on simply off the Venezuelan coast.
The flight is presumably a part of Operation Southern Spear, the monitoring of drug trafficking close to Venezuela.
Aviation lovers and flight trackers famous two B-52s, callsigns PAPPY11 and PAPPY12, flying southeast from Minot to the Kentucky/Tennessee border earlier within the day, then virtually due south towards the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
One of many bombers subsequently turned again and returned to base, whereas the opposite continued and skirted the coast of Venezuela with Navy F/A-18 fighters, at one level passing north of the capital Caracas.
On the time SOUTHCOM declined remark, the B-52 was nonetheless flying. However officers have acknowledged and even publicized flights after they conclude.
On Nov. 20, for instance, a number of B-52s from Minot flew to the Caribbean. A day later, SOUTHCOM printed pictures of one of many bombers, flanked by F-35 fighters, flying over the usGerald Ford plane service, working within the area.
Air Forces Southern, the service element for the area, said on social media that the Nov. 20 flight was a “Bomber Assault Demo,” language according to different, current bomber sorties to the Caribbean. A U.S. official described it a “presence patrol.”
The flights are seen as a part of a stress marketing campaign to get Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to step down. The Trump administration has additionally carried out some 21 U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug boats within the space, killing at the very least 83 individuals. The administration has launched no different particulars about these killed or the boats.
The administration maintains it has the authorized authority to conduct such strikes as a result of it categorizes drug cartels as terrorist teams that pose a menace to the U.S.
Different U.S. army air property identified to be working within the area embody Air Pressure MQ-9 Reaper drones, 10 Marine Corps F-35B fighters flying from Puerto Rico, Air Pressure AC-130 gunships flying from bases in Puerto Rico and El Salvador, and Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol plane.
Audio of this text is delivered to you by the Air & Area Forces Affiliation, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their households. Discover out extra at afa.org