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The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford may be the Navy’s newest carrier, but it hasn’t shied away from conflict since its first full-length deployment in 2023.
That year, the Ford originally departed for a deployment to Europe in May, but eventually spent the tail end of it in the Eastern Mediterranean after Hamas’ initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Now, the Navy’s most advanced carrier finds itself at the foreground of yet another critical conflict as it heads to the Caribbean amid President Donald Trump’s crusade against drugs, which is exerting even more pressure on Venezuela.
The Trump administration has enhanced its naval assets in the Caribbean in recent months, and sent several U.S. Navy guided missile destroyers to boost its counter-narcotics efforts there starting in August.
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And on Friday, the Pentagon announced it would send the Ford from Europe to the Caribbean as operations there heat up in U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). To date, the U.S. has conducted more than a dozen strikes against alleged drug boats in the region.
The deployment signifies a massive step for the Trump administration as it claims it is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug smugglers, and brings a host of new capabilities and firepower to deter any aggression at Latin America’s doorstep.
The Ford is the first carrier of its class, and is equipped with more than 20 brand-new technologies, and key design updates, which aim to increase air operations while also accommodating a smaller crew. The carrier’s command center for the ship is placed closer to the rear of the Ford to create more space on the flight deck, so more aircraft can be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Additionally, the carrier is outfitted with a new electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, which is designed to offload aircraft from the ship rather than using a steam-powered catapult system, like the ones installed on every other carrier.
During its deployment to the Caribbean, the Ford likely will be conducting strike operations on land, and providing close air support for special operations troops, according to experts. While the new technologies aren’t likely a huge game changer in the Caribbean conflict, the carrier’s presence does give the U.S. military additional flexibility to conduct operations there, according to experts.
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“I estimate the FORD will be doing strike operations against narcotics trafficking and manufacturing sites ashore as well as providing close air support to special operations troops,” Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute think tank’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital.
Clark said the carrier’s new technologies will prove “helpful” during the deployment, but aren’t expected to make a “big difference” in the Caribbean. But the carrier’s presence there does indicate the U.S. is keeping a closer eye on the region, which could suggest the U.S. is more prone to work with regional governments to curb human trafficking and illegal immigration.
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Brent Sadler, a senior fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said that the carrier’s deployment will allow Trump additional resources to target cartels. Meanwhile, Trump routinely has said for weeks he is considering employing land operations against Venezuela, following his directed strikes at sea.
“The Ford’s arrival in SOUTHCOM area is not unprecedented but given the ongoing attacks on Cartel boats significant. I see this move as intended to deter Venezuela from escalating the crisis and providing the President extra options should he want to increase the attacks on the Cartels,” Sadler said in an email to Fox News Digital on Monday. “That said, I would anticipate the Ford’s air wing being very active in air surveillance and defense.”
Presidents have the authority to direct deployments of military assets, and both Republican and Democratic presidents have done so. For example, former President Joe Biden ordered the Ford to head to the Eastern Mediterranean after the Israel-Hamas war broke out in 2023.
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Even so, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about the legality of Trump’s recent strikes. For example, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a war powers resolution this month that would prohibit U.S. armed forces from engaging in “hostilities” against Venezuela.
“The Trump administration has made it clear they may launch military action inside Venezuela’s borders and won’t stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean,” Schiff said in an Oct. 17 statement.
However, Trump has brushed off lawmakers’ concerns about the legality of the strikes. Instead, he told reporters Oct. 14 that the alleged drug vessels are “fair game” because they are “loaded up with drugs.”
The Trump administration has sought to crack down on the flow of drugs into the U.S. and designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa, and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
After news broke that Trump was deploying the Ford to the region, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war.”
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,” Maduro said in a national broadcast on Friday.
The Trump administration refuses to recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, and has said he is a leader of a drug cartel instead.
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