The Air Force sent multiple B-52H Stratofortress aircraft on a “bomber attack demonstration mission” around the U.S. military’s Latin America area of responsibility last week amid escalating strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and a broader American troop build-up off the coast of Venezuela.
Airmen with the 2nd Bomb Wing out of Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, flew the demo alongside Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II jets on Oct. 15, according to images posted by the unit on social media. The images showed one bomber, but open-source flight data tracked three B-52H off the coast of Venezuela last week.
Air Forces Southern posted photos of the demonstration on Facebook showing airmen with the 2nd Bomb Wing departing a bus for the flightline, pilots in the B-52H cockpit and one bomber cruising alongside two F-35Bs. The post did not specify how many bombers were used in the demo, but noted there were multiple.
“U.S. commitment to proactively deter adversary threats to the U.S. homeland and the region, enhance crew training, and ensure the global force readiness necessary to respond to any contingency or challenge,” the post said.
The 2nd Bomb Wing and U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the Latin America area of responsibility, did not immediately respond to questions from Task & Purpose about the flight on Wednesday.
The bombers circled north of Venezuela’s capital city, Caracas, for roughly two hours before turning back north, according to the open-source flight data. The B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that can carry precision-guided ordnance or nuclear weapons.
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The demonstration is the latest show of force by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea as President Donald Trump ratchets up tensions with Venezuela, specifically against its president, Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. military has also killed more than two dozen people with strikes on vessels off the coast of Venezuela in what Trump has said was “a non-international armed conflict” with alleged drug smugglers.
One strike was against what Colombian officials said was a narco-submarine, killing two but leaving two survivors who were to be repatriated back to Colombia.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has surged thousands of troops to the Caribbean Sea. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that more than 6,000 sailors and Marines were off the coast of Venezuela, accompanied by a litany of military assets such as three amphibious assault ships, three destroyers, one cruiser, a littoral combat ship, an attack submarine and various aircraft — including the B-52 bombers.
