Venezuela raid shows airpower drives dominance in modern conflicts

The United States military and law enforcement officials captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a high-stakes military operation on January 3, a mission carried out by the US Army’s Delta Force and backed by extensive use of American airpower. After months of growing military pressure on Maduro, President Donald Trump ordered a brazen operation into the South American country to capture its leader and whisk him to the United States, where his administration planned to put him on trial. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who denounced the capture as a kidnapping, became acting president of Venezuela.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro had been indicted in the US Southern District of New York on several charges related to narco-terrorism, superseding a 2020 indictment based on similar charges. Maduro, who appeared in a Manhattan federal court on January 5, 2026, pleaded “not guilty”.

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More than 150 aircraft, including bombers, fighters, intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, and rotary-wing planes, supported “Operation Absolute Resolve”, according to Air Force Gen Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The operation occurred on a notable day in history, the 36th anniversary of the US capture of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega during “Operation Just Cause,” in which US forces invaded Panama to topple its drug-running dictator.

Operation Southern Spear

Operation Southern Spear is a United States military and surveillance campaign with the goal of “detecting, disrupting, and degrading transnational criminal and illicit maritime networks” under the Trump administration. Some analysts have identified the operation as a hybridisation of the war on terror and the war on drugs, and others have claimed that removal of Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela was an objective of the operation.

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A small team, including one source within the Venezuelan government, had been observing where the 63-year-old slept, what he ate, what he wore, and even, according to top military officials, where “his pets” were. The plan, which amounted to an extraordinary US military intervention in Latin America not seen since the Cold War, was closely guarded.

“Over the weeks through Christmas and New Year, the men and women of the United States military sat ready, patiently waiting for the right triggers to be met and the president to order us into action,” said Gen. Caine.

Amid concerns in the Trump administration about defending the US from drug trafficking, and heightened tensions between the US and Venezuela, the US began deploying military forces to the Caribbean Sea in mid-August 2025 and, in September, began conducting airstrikes on vessels the Trump administration alleges were controlled by narco-terrorists trafficking drugs to the US.

By late November, with the Venezuelan “Cartel of the Suns” designated by the US as both a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organisation, a new phase of operations began. In December, the Trump administration declared the Maduro government itself a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and began boarding and seizing sanctioned crude tankers. In late December, the US made its first strike on a land target within Venezuela. Then came the formal assault on January 3, 2026.

Participating Air Assets in January Assault

According to Caine, Trump gave the order to proceed on January 2 at 23:46 VET (Venezuelan Standard Time, UTC minus four). The administration did not notify the United States Congress in advance of the strikes, saying it had concerns that doing so could endanger the mission.

At least seven explosions were reported at around 02:00 VET, and low-flying aircraft were seen predominantly in La Guaira, Higuerote, Meseta de Mamo, Baruta, El Hatillo, Charallave, and Carmen de Uria, which are mostly inside or near the capital city, Caracas.

The joint force operation involved 150 aircraft from the United States Navy (USN), Air Force (USAF), and Marine Corps (USMC). They included the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, Lockheed Martin F-35A/C Lightning II, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler, Grumman E-2D Hawkeye early-warning aircraft, Rockwell B-1B Lancer, Boeing CH-47F Chinook, Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, Bell UH-1Y Venom, Bell AH-1Z Viper, Boeing AH-64E Apache, Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk, aerial refuelling tankers, electronic-warfare planes, various intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, other support aircraft, and numerous unmanned aerial vehicles, including the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel.

Trump said the United States “had a fighter jet for every possible situation”.

Caine said US aircraft deployed from 20 different locations in the Western Hemisphere, on land and at sea, during the operation to capture Maduro. During the build-up of military might in Latin America, the US also used airbases in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and other locations in the region, including the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier and the USS Iwo Jima, as well as bases in the continental United States.

The US forces deployed included 12 F-22s from Joint Base Langley-Eustis. USAF F-22s were seen at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico, alongside Vermont Air National Guard F-35As, a unit specializing in suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD). USMC F-35Bs were also in action.

The B-1 bombers appear to have originated from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. Both F-22s and B-1s had been seen flying south from their home bases in recent days, indicating rehearsals were under way. The secretive RQ-170 Sentinel stealth flying-wing surveillance drones were also spotted over Venezuela in videos posted on social media.

Helicopters from the US Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment descended on Maduro’s location. US Space Command, US Cyber Command, and intelligence agencies, including the CIA, NSA, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, participated in the effort, Caine said.

Operations Modalities

Poor weather delayed the operation by several days, but “last night, the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could manoeuvre through the ocean, mountain, and low cloud ceilings,” Caine said. The night was well lit by a full moon.

“As the force began to approach Caracas, the Joint Air Component began dismantling and disabling the air defence systems in Venezuela, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area,” Caine told reporters in a joint press conference with President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the President’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Caine said the helicopter insertion force, which included law-enforcement personnel, flew into Venezuela at an altitude of just 100 feet over the water, reaching Maduro’s compound at 1:31 a.m. VET. “The goal of our air component was, and always will be, to protect the helicopters and the ground force, get them to the target, and get them home,” Caine added.

The strikes lasted half an hour. Smoke was seen rising from one military hangar at a Caracas base, while another was left without power. The strikes occurred under the cover of darkness as a result of both the timing of the operation and the US military’s disruption of power in the city of Caracas.

Multiple shipping containers were destroyed and damaged in the La Guaira port strikes. Satellite imagery from Vantor showed at least five destroyed warehouses, burned vehicles, and a blown-up security post. An aircraft, believed to be a Beechcraft Baron, and a Buk-M2E surface-to-air missile system were destroyed at Higuerote Airport.

Maduro declared a national state of emergency after the explosions began. The Venezuelan government promised to defend against US military actions, which it accused of seeking regime change. It described the attack as “imperialist aggression” and called for the United Nations Security Council to be convened.

Most of the explosions targeted antennas and active military bases. Early reports suggested that the explosions may have occurred at Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base (La Carlota) and Fort Tiuna, two military installations in the area. Large explosions were also reported at Higuerote Airport.

Helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment carried Delta Force soldiers into Caracas, with air cover provided by fighters and bombers. Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel, including the Hostage Rescue Team, accompanied the military to formally arrest Maduro at his compound.

The US force came under fire and returned fire. One US helicopter was struck but remained flyable and completed the mission. Some US personnel were injured, Trump said. None were killed.

Maduro was picked up by helicopters and brought aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) following his capture. The capture was undertaken by Delta Force together with the CIA. By 4:29 a.m. VET (3:29 am US Eastern Time), Maduro and his wife were embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship, from which they were taken to the United States for trial, US officials said.

A photograph depicted Maduro blindfolded, wearing noise-cancelling headphones, a flotation device, and a grey fleece Nike Tech tracksuit, and holding a plastic water bottle.

Shortly before 18:00 VET (17:00 EST), the airplane carrying Maduro and Flores landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York. He was seen walking off the jet, surrounded by federal agents, before entering a hangar. He was then flown by helicopter to the Westside Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, and taken by an armoured convoy to a local Drug Enforcement Administration field office, where he was processed before ultimately being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Trump said the US operation involved great risk. “This is an attack that could have gone very, very badly,” he said. “We could have lost a lot of people last night. We could have lost a lot of dignity. We could have lost a lot of equipment.”

He added that a “second wave” of US forces was standing by, ready to intervene if necessary. “We were ready to go again if we have to,” he said.

Important Role of Air Power

The entire operation was airpower-centric, which was the single most important element. The airstrikes on military targets created the space for Special Forces to conduct their capture operation and also signalled to the Venezuelan military that this was not a fight they could, or should, get into.

“It was very complex, extremely complex — the whole manoeuvre, the landings, the number of aircraft,” Trump told Fox News. “We had a fighter jet for every possible situation. Planes and helicopters were flying all over the city.”

Soon, videos emerged showing numerous aircraft in the skies.

Every element of airpower was in place and used. This included Sead decoys and deception, strategic and tactical airstrikes, electronic warfare, airborne force insertion, special operations, transport and helicopter operations, uncrewed aerial systems (drones), coordinated fires, joint force application, and carrier-based naval aviation. Aerial tankers and airborne early warning and control aircraft were in action. Flexibility, speed, range, accuracy, and lethality were all at play.

To Summarise

The United States military entered Venezuela, capturing and extra-judicially abducting a sitting President, Nicolás Maduro, and First Lady Cilia Flores. The capture created a power vacuum in Venezuela, which Trump said the US would fill after a “proper transition” to new Venezuelan leadership.

Venezuela is known to have total proved reserves of 303.3 billion barrels, the highest in the world. Oil output in Venezuela will now go up, and prices will reduce and stabilise. This could turn out to be good for India and the world.

Amid split global opinion on Trump’s strike on Maduro, the Modi government is playing it safe. The cautious Ministry of External Affairs statement is in line with India’s recent positions on Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran. With India-US trade deal negotiations at a crucial stage, Delhi is likely to avoid strong protests.

Reactions around the world included protests and celebrations by the Venezuelan diaspora. On Venezuela, realism demands holding two truths together: power still shapes outcomes, and deterrence is real in a hard world. That is what the US action demonstrates.

The Trump administration justified the operation as a law-enforcement action with military support that the president has “inherent constitutional authority” to undertake. But international law experts, officials in the United States, the UN, and other countries questioned its legality.

President Trump stated that the United States would run Venezuela until there was a transition of power, but these claims were contradicted by Rodríguez and later walked back by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The government formerly led by Maduro remained in place.

What kind of signal does this send to the world? Does it mean Trump is telling Russia’s Putin to continue gaining ground in Ukraine as an area of influence? Is it also a signal to China to be bolder against Taiwan?

As the war in Ukraine, Op Sindoor, and conflicts in West Asia show, the airpower continues to be the dominant means of prosecuting military operations. Major armed forces around the world are spending more than half of their defence budgets on airpower. The major equipment orders by India after Op Sindoor are related to aerial platforms and munitions. It has become all the more important to invest more and create greater capability in airpower.

(The writer is former Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)