Gerald R. Ford Strike Group Deployed to Caribbean

The Pentagon has ordered the nuclear-powered Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and its embarked air wing to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility to bolster capacity to detect, monitor and disrupt transnational criminal organizations and narco-terrorism in the Caribbean and waters off Latin America. The deployment, carried out under President Trump’s directive, diverts the Ford from the Mediterranean and brings destroyers USS Mahan, USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Bainbridge plus Carrier Air Wing 8 with multiple F/A-18 squadrons. The move significantly expands a fall naval buildup already operating in the region and is unusually large for a counternarcotics mission. Officials say the order follows roughly 10 U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels, including a recent nighttime strike that killed six people the administration described as Tren de Aragua members. Regional reports that some of those hit were foreign nationals and analysts' warnings that the military buildup and pressure on Venezuela could heighten tensions or risk broader confrontation have raised international and diplomatic concerns.