The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is leading a naval strike force being sent to the Caribbean, in the latest escalation of military firepower in the waters off South America.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said the fleet is being deployed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to stop drugs from entering the U.S.
“In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narcoterrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),” Parnell announced Friday.
He said the growing U.S. presence off the coasts of South and Central America will help keep Americans safe.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs,” according to Parnell.
The USS Ford, which has five destroyers in its strike group, is currently deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. That nation’s largest carrier is believed to be docked in Croatia. At least two of its destroyer companions are in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.
The independent, nonprofit news service of the Naval Institute USNI reports that the USS Ford will take at least a week to cross the Atlantic and reach its new destination. It’s not clear if the entire strike force will assist the U.S. Southern Command.
The USS Ford strike group consists of roughly 4,500 sailors and nine squadrons of aircraft assigned to the carrier. More than 6,000 sailors and Marines and eight warships are already in the region.
The U.S. has conducted lethal strikes on 10 alleged drug transporting vessels, including one that happened Thursday night, according to Hegseth. He said six suspected narcotics traffickers died in that assault.
More than 40 people have been killed in airstrikes targeting alleged drug operations.
With News Wire Services
