Yesterday, the flight-tracking application Flightradar24 once again recorded the presence of two B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers belonging to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) conducting a patrol flight near Venezuelan airspace. The aircraft, identified with the callsigns TITO41 and TITO42, were detected about 70 kilometers off the coast, marking the fourth such show of presence by Washington in the region over the past few months.
According to the available information, the B-52H bombers took off from Minot Air Force Base (North Dakota) before heading toward the western Caribbean, where they carried out an extensive route parallel to the northern coast of Venezuela. During the mission, the aircraft turned northwest of Caracas and subsequently resumed a northward course, out to sea, completing their patrol profile over international waters.
As indicated by U.S. military sources, the activity of the bombers falls within the aerial patrol and surveillance operations that the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) has coordinated since September, in support of the campaign against transnational criminal organizations and the fight against drug trafficking.
At this point, it is important to mention that these types of missions, framed within the operations of the Bomber Task Force Flight, are part of the global presence strategy of the U.S. Air Force, which seeks to maintain rapid deployment and strategic projection capabilities in the main operational theaters of the Western Hemisphere.
Thursday’s flight adds to other recent incursions of long-range U.S. aircraft. In mid-October, another pair of B-52H Stratofortress were detected following a similar flight pattern just 160 kilometers off the capital, Caracas. On that occasion, the aircraft were escorted by F-35B fighters from the Marine Corps, reflecting the capabilities that the U.S. Southern Command has incorporated in recent weeks. Likewise, Rockwell B-1B Lancer strategic bombers also carried out operations in the Caribbean, under a joint training and regional deterrence framework.
Although the Pentagon frames these activities within its policy of “dynamic presence” and hemispheric cooperation, for regional analysts these flights also constitute a show of force and reaffirmation of military presence in an area where the United States maintains constant surveillance and sustained deployment.
*Illustrative cover image. Credits: USAF
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