The unprecedented capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US military has stirred several conversations among military strategists, observers, and defense enthusiasts. Interestingly, this includes the “ineffectiveness” of the radars that Caracas acquired from China.
On January 3, 2026, US forces executed a precision military raid codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The operation, which involved extensive planning, was conducted at the order of US President Donald Trump, without approval from the US Congress.
Boasting one of the strongest militaries in Latin America, Venezuela possessed a variety of advanced radars, including the JY-27, whose capabilities have now been called into question by observers.
These radars were integrated into Venezuela’s air defence network alongside Russian systems like the S-300VM surface-to-air missiles, forming a layered defence around key sites, including Caracas.
However, this entire defence network collapsed as US jets entered Venezuelan airspace hunting for targets whose location was, perhaps, likely already known.
The JY-27 is a Chinese-made VHF-band radar system developed by the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). Venezuela acquired several units of these radars over the past few years as part of its air defence modernization.
Designed to detect low-observable aircraft like the US F-22 and F-35 by operating at meter-wave frequencies that, in theory, exploit resonance effects on stealth designs, the JY-27 has been marketed by Beijing as an “anti-stealth” or “stealth hunter” radar.
In 2016, for instance, China claimed that its JY-27A radar can detect stealth targets like the F-22 Raptor. At that time, it was reported that China might have used the JY-27A or YLC-8B – or both together – to detect the stealth fighters from more than 250 kilometres away.
However, these radars did little to defend Venezuela against an impending attack. A military observer who writes on defense matters said on X: “In the 3 hr operation to capture/arrest Maduro, US forces not only proved Russian air defense useless but also proved Chinese technology useless. This is a Chinese promo for its JY-27 ‘anti-stealth’ radar, of which Venezuela bought 9, all of which failed to detect the incoming aircraft.”
Some reports in local Taiwanese media claimed that the Chinese JYL-1 long-range surveillance radar and the JY-27A anti-stealth radar were unable to detect even a single US aircraft and were rendered inoperable during the attack due to electronic jamming.
The system was mocked across social platforms, with some netizens saying, “South America’s strongest radar and air defence network turned out to be scrap iron.”
Responding to this widespread trolling of the JY-27, popular PLA analyst Rick Joe reasoned that an older radar is unlikely to hold fort against the most advanced, new-age Electronic Warfare of the US military.
“The JY-27 imported by Venezuela is a PRC mid-2000s vintage (picture). I’d certainly hope US SEAD/EW of early 2026 would easily outmatch them (especially given the rest of Venezuela’s IADS+military). The radar shown in the video is JY-27V, a mid-2020s product,” he wrote on X.
“And even then, “counter-stealth” radars don’t work the way people think they do. You still need a competent, modern, networked GBAD [Ground-Based Air Defence] as well as multi-domain IADS [Integrated Air Defence System],” he added.
While Very High Frequency (VHF) radars, such as the JY-27, can, in principle, detect stealthy shapes due to wavelength mismatches, they suffer from poor angular resolution, which could lead to inaccurate targeting and vulnerability to modern Electronic Warfare.
Experts believe that the US forces likely used spectrum-dominance tactics, including low-probability-of-intercept signals and decoys, to overwhelm the system. Additionally, they said that the age of the radars and the lack of integration with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven fusion may have contributed to the failure of the aging Chinese radar.
Notably, the US carried out the operation by leveraging its technological superiority.
The US aircraft, such as Growlers, Super Hornets, F-35s, and drones, may have conducted surveillance over Caracas and other areas, mapping air defense systems, radars, and command nodes, in line with standard US tactics for building an “Electronic Order of Battle.”
For instance, EA-18G Growler, along with F/A-18 Super Hornets, were tracked conducting flights near Venezuelan airspace in December 2025. At the time, analysts described these as “probing” missions to elicit responses from Venezuelan radars and defenses, triggering emissions for signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection, mapping weak points, and testing reaction times without full engagement.
On the day of the attack, the EA-18G Growlers, equipped with advanced jammers, may have overwhelmed and blinded radars through intensive jamming, spoofing, and possibly cyber-electromagnetic attacks, leading to the complete devastation of the country’s Command and Control system.
Earlier, the US Air Force had revealed that its F-35s had similarly conducted large-scale SEAD (Suppression of Air Defences) during ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ against Iran in June 2025.
However, we cannot say if the stealth fighters conducted SEAD missions in Venezuela until the US Air Force divulges specific technical information.
Planning Of Absolute Resolve
The planning for this operation began in earnest in August 2025, with the CIA deploying a small team into Venezuela to gather real-time intelligence on Maduro’s everyday life, his movements, all the residences, and details about his pets.
According to some experts, the US military established the Joint Task Force Southern Spear in October 2025 to ensure better coordination and planning, making the high-stakes operation a resounding success.
Concurrently, US forces carried out a massive military build-up in the southern Caribbean, including a massive armada of ships, followed by the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, F-35 fighters, drones, and early-warning aircraft, among other crucial assets.
Meanwhile, the US forces started attacking and sinking vessels suspected of drug trafficking as a means of building pressure on Maduro’s government. The US forces also imposed an oil blockade to starve the regime financially and seized oil tankers from the region.
The 63-year-old Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, consistently denied culpability and continued to assert that this sustained American aggression was aimed at regime change.
However, preparation for an armed operation continued, with the US special forces rehearsing the raid using full-scale mockups of the fortified compound at Fuerte Tiuna, a major military base in Caracas, where Nicolás Maduro and his wife were living.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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