The US Navy’s devoted Digital Warfare (EW) carrier-based fighter jet—the EA-18G Growler—has been noticed at Puerto Rico amid rising fears of a possible US strike on land-based targets inside Venezuela.
About six US Navy EA-18G Growler, almost a full squadron, have now been forward-deployed to Puerto Rico’s former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads. The jets had been seen parked on the apron on the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba in {a photograph} printed by Reuters on December 10, 2025.
With this deployment, the Growler has now turn into part of a large navy build-up undertaken by the US since August 2025, as a part of what the US President Donald Trump calls an “armed battle in opposition to drug cartels.”
Trump has accused the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, of lending assist to narcoterrorist teams such because the Tren de Aragua and the Cartel de los Soles which can be allegedly flooding america with lethal medicine, labelling him because the “largest drug trafficker” on the planet.
Up to now, the US has carried out 22 strikes and killed 87 folks on boats that it believes had been carrying medicine, sans credible proof.
“This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the medicine which can be killing our folks,” Secretary of Struggle (formally Secretary of Protection) Pete Hegseth earlier mentioned. The mission has been named ‘Operation Southern Spear.’
U.S. Navy EA-18G “Growler” Digital Warfare Plane, probably with the “Scorpions” of Electromagnetic Assault Squadron 132 (VAQ-132), noticed on the tarmac at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Japanese Puerto Rico, after crossing america and arriving final evening from Naval… pic.twitter.com/GMIX6yTfhq
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 10, 2025
Nonetheless, Maduro alleges that the Trump administration is trying to topple his authorities below the guise of a conflict in opposition to medicine.
Moreover, the narcotics knowledge from america and the United Nations reveal that Venezuela is not a producer or exporter of fentanyl, an artificial opioid produced in laboratories, and that its involvement within the a lot much less lethal cocaine commerce can be fairly small.
The opposite vital platforms deployed by the US navy within the area embrace USS Gerald R. Ford plane service, F-35 stealth fighters, a number of cutting-edge warships, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and over 15,000 troops.
That is the most important American navy presence within the Caribbean for the reason that 1989 Panama invasion, and is generally concentrated in Puerto Rico, which is a US territory serving as a staging hub, Trinidad and Tobago, and worldwide waters off Venezuela’s coast.
Topping our most observe flights checklist proper now: a pair of US Navy F/A-18s over the Gulf of Venezuela. https://t.co/pCIB1qQdSg pic.twitter.com/8Nt548B0mB
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 9, 2025
Earlier than the Growlers had been noticed in Puerto Rico, on-line flight monitoring knowledge revealed that two US Navy F/A-18 Tremendous Hornets flew immediately into the centre of the Gulf of Venezuela earlier immediately and remained there for nearly forty minutes.
This follows comparable flights by US Air Pressure (USAF) strategic bombers within the area, that are perceived as a present of drive.
On December 11, US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. A video of the incident, about 45 seconds lengthy, was posted to X by US Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi. The operation, which concerned troops touchdown on the tanker from a helicopter, was carried out by the FBI, Homeland Safety Investigations, and the US Coast Guard, with assist from the US Division of Protection.
As we speak, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Safety Investigations, and america Coast Guard, with assist from the Division of Struggle, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to move sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For a number of… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Lawyer Normal Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
It have to be famous that the boarding of a overseas ship is an uncommon escalatory step that considerably expands the scope of US operations.
In opposition to that backdrop, the deployment of Growlers, that are thought of essential drive multipliers in fight, has sparked concern that land strikes on Venezuela could possibly be imminent.
Trump has commonly threatened to launch land strikes on drug manufacturing bases and different targets inside Venezuela. “Very quickly we’re going to start out doing it on land, too, as a result of we all know each route, we all know each home,” the President was quoted as saying earlier this month.
Growlers In The Caribbean
The Growler is an American carrier-based digital warfare plane, a specialised model of the combat-proven two-seat Boeing F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet. It supplies tactical jamming and digital safety to US navy forces and allies worldwide.
The Growler shares greater than 90% of its traits with the usual Tremendous Hornet, which is the workhorse of the US Navy’s service operations.
Derived from the F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet, it combines fighter-like velocity (Mach 1.8), vary (over 1,000 nautical miles fight radius), and maneuverability with superior jamming and intelligence-gathering instruments. Its core strengths lie in suppressing enemy air defenses (SEAD), disrupting command-and-control (C2) networks, and defending strike packages—making it a drive multiplier for operations like these below Operation Southern Spear.
The EA-18G Growler is taken into account among the many most superior airborne digital assault (AEA) platforms and is the one one nonetheless in manufacturing immediately. The Growler brings fighter plane velocity and maneuverability to an digital assault plane. It additionally supplies vital digital intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) knowledge to different joint drive plane.
It’s a extremely survivable platform geared up with the APG-79 Lively Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system for improved radar picture decision and focusing on and monitoring vary.
The Growler is outfitted with the INCANS Interference Cancellation System for uninterrupted radio communications in a closely jammed atmosphere, and contains a Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System for unparalleled aircrew situational consciousness and head-up management of plane focusing on methods and sensors. Moreover, it options the ALQ-227 Communications Countermeasures Set for finding, recording, enjoying again, and digitally jamming enemy communications over a large frequency vary.
The plane is supplied with ALQ-99 excessive and low-band tactical jamming pods and AN/ALQ-218 wide-band receivers on the wingtips. The 2 create a full-spectrum digital warfare suite that may detect and jam any recognized surface-to-air risk collectively. The event of pods for brand new threats is ongoing, as per reviews.
In actual time, three Growlers linked to a community can produce focusing on tracks for adversarial radio-frequency emitters. The Growler may exactly pinpoint sign sources utilizing its EW pods and faster knowledge linkages.
When one of many three planes within the group picks up a sign from a supply, similar to a cellular phone, the opposite two can hear for it as effectively. To triangulate the situation to “a really, very small space,” all three measure the time it takes for transmissions to go from the supply to every plane.
The USN has used EA-18s fitted with ALQ-218 receivers and Rockwell Collins’ tactical focusing on community expertise (TTNT) to accumulate emissions from a goal vessel and goal it from a stand-off vary with out utilizing their very own detectable radar emissions.
The picture printed by Reuters of those plane at Puerto Rico reveals a few of the EA-18Gs geared up with brand-new AN/ALQ-249(V)1 Subsequent Technology Jammer-Mid Band (NGJ-MB) digital warfare pods, whereas others brandish the older pods. This mix of pods is often noticed amongst deployed Growler models, because the transition from the ALQ-99 to the ALQ-249 continues to be underway.
The Growler’s digital warfare suite additionally allows the gathering of intelligence which may be used to develop “Digital Orders of Battle,” revealing how their forces are to be deployed in a selected area, and to realize insights into the adversary’s capabilities. This info is especially useful for mapping out communications hubs and air protection networks for conducting foolproof strikes.
The plane will be geared up with two AIM-120 Superior Medium-Vary Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM). Final yr, in a historic milestone, a US Navy EA-18G Growler digital warfare plane, deployed to the Crimson Sea aboard the plane service USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (a.ok.a “Ike”), achieved its first aerial kill.
The Navy didn’t specify the precise Houthi risk the Growler eradicated, however a video shared by Eisenhower’s commanding officer appeared to point out a drone kill marking on the aspect of a Growler.
The plane may also be armed with two AGM-88 HARM missiles, which could possibly be used to immediately assault ground-based hostile air defenses and different strategic property.
Venezuela’s built-in air protection system contains Russian-supplied S-300VM long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) round Caracas and key oil amenities, Buk-M2E medium-range methods, and short-range Pantsir-S1s, supported by Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighters and floor radars. Whereas these property pose dangers to US property, they’re susceptible to Growler-led EW dominance.
The deployment of Growlers close to Venezuela could possibly be geared toward sporting armed strikes in opposition to the nation. Growlers may present digital warfare assist to different fight hets launching standoff strikes or breaching enemy air defenses to achieve their targets. Moreover, the jets may contribute to the survival of the standoff weapons.
Growlers could not lead kinetic strikes, however would definitely allow them by “blinding” Venezuelan sensors, creating home windows for US F-35s, F/A-18E/F Tremendous Hornets, B-52s, or drones to penetrate and destroy high-value targets.
Furthermore, they is also helpful for different process units, similar to fight search and rescue and the insertion and/or extraction of particular operations forces or different floor parts.
For now, it stays to be seen whether or not Trump orders an assault on Venezuela or continues drive projection.
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