Since January 3, the day on which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured, various partial details regarding the scope of Operation Absolute Resolve, carried out by the United States Armed Forces, have begun to emerge. Thanks to the recovery of debris and its subsequent analysis by Venezuelan authorities, the use of different types of stand-off weaponry was confirmed, among which the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) glide bombs stand out.
During the early hours of January 3, the United States Armed Forces deployed a significant number of assets and capabilities to ensure complete air superiority over the city of Caracas. This was achieved through the employment of various electronic warfare platforms, as well as other capabilities across different domains, with the aim of ensuring that helicopters from the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) could infiltrate Delta Force operators, who would secure the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Among these actions, the use of various types of long-range weaponry was confirmed to strike different locations within the city of Caracas, such as radar sites and air defense systems, as evidenced by the destruction of Buk-M2E systems and associated 9S510E radars.
Thanks to the recovery of fragments by the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), whose facilities were attacked—without clarification as to whether they were intentional targets or collateral damage—the use of AGM-154 JSOW glide bombs was confirmed.
In greater detail, and as shown in a video released by Venezuelan authorities, it was specified that the munition employed was the “C1” variant of the JSOW, which is designed to strike fortified ground targets and is equipped with an infrared guidance seeker.
At present, it is not known which type of aircraft involved in the operation carried out this strike. It can only be presumed, based on the platforms capable of employing the JSOW, that it may have been conducted by U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft or U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-35A fighters, which have been operating— in the former case from aircraft carriers and in the latter from bases in Puerto Rico—and which could have carried out their launches from distances of close to one hundred kilometers against targets in Caracas.
It should also be noted that the AGM-154 can be employed by other aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force, such as the F-16 and F-15, which did not take part in Operation Absolute Resolve, as well as by B-1B Lancer and B-52H Stratofortress bombers.
Finally, the use of this type of stand-off weaponry provides a strike capability from beyond the reach of air defense systems, offering higher levels of safety for the launch platforms.
*Photographs used for illustrative purposes.
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