Online flight tracking data shows that a pair of U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets flew right into the center of the Gulf of Venezuela earlier today, and stayed there for some 40 minutes. This is a relatively small body of water bounded on three sides by Venezuela’s national territory, and is in the same general area where American forces are known to have previously probed that country’s air defenses. The sorties represent a new escalation in the maximum pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro that President Donald Trump’s administration has been conducting for months now.
The two Super Hornets, callsigns Rhino 11 and Rhino 12, look to have remained in international airspace throughout the duration of their sorties in the Gulf of Venezuela today, though this remains unconfirmed.
