The US Navy’s dedicated Electronic Warfare (EW) carrier-based fighter jet—the EA-18G Growler—has been spotted at Puerto Rico amid rising fears of a potential US strike on land-based targets inside Venezuela.
About six US Navy EA-18G Growler, nearly a full squadron, have now been forward-deployed to Puerto Rico’s former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads. The jets were seen parked on the apron at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba in a photograph published by Reuters on December 10, 2025.
With this deployment, the Growler has now become a part of a massive military build-up undertaken by the US since August 2025, as part of what the US President Donald Trump calls an “armed conflict against drug cartels.”
Trump has accused the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, of lending support to narcoterrorist groups such as the Tren de Aragua and the Cartel de los Soles that are allegedly flooding the United States with deadly drugs, labelling him as the “largest drug trafficker” in the world.
So far, the US has conducted 22 strikes and killed 87 people on boats that it believes were carrying drugs, sans credible evidence.
“This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” Secretary of War (formally Secretary of Defense) Pete Hegseth earlier said. The mission has been named ‘Operation Southern Spear.’
U.S. Navy EA-18G “Growler” Electronic Warfare Aircraft, likely with the “Scorpions” of Electromagnetic Attack Squadron 132 (VAQ-132), spotted on the tarmac at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Eastern Puerto Rico, after crossing the United States and arriving last night from Naval… pic.twitter.com/GMIX6yTfhq
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 10, 2025
However, Maduro alleges that the Trump administration is attempting to topple his government under the guise of a war against drugs.
Additionally, the narcotics data from the United States and the United Nations reveal that Venezuela is not a manufacturer or exporter of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid produced in laboratories, and that its involvement in the much less deadly cocaine trade is also quite small.
The other significant platforms deployed by the US military in the region include USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, F-35 stealth fighters, several cutting-edge warships, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and over 15,000 troops.
This is the largest American military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 Panama invasion, and is mostly concentrated in Puerto Rico, which is a US territory serving as a staging hub, Trinidad and Tobago, and international waters off Venezuela’s coast.
Topping our most track flights list right now: a pair of US Navy F/A-18s over the Gulf of Venezuela. https://t.co/pCIB1qQdSg pic.twitter.com/8Nt548B0mB
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 9, 2025
Before the Growlers were spotted in Puerto Rico, online flight tracking data revealed that two US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets flew directly into the centre of the Gulf of Venezuela earlier today and remained there for almost forty minutes.
This follows similar flights by US Air Force (USAF) strategic bombers in the region, which are perceived as a show of force.
On December 11, US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. A video of the incident, about 45 seconds long, was posted to X by US Attorney General Pam Bondi. The operation, which involved troops landing on the tanker from a helicopter, was conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard, with support from the US Department of Defense.
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
It must be noted that the boarding of a foreign ship is an unusual escalatory step that somewhat expands the scope of US operations.
Against that backdrop, the deployment of Growlers, which are considered crucial force multipliers in combat, has sparked concern that land strikes on Venezuela could be imminent.
Trump has regularly threatened to launch land strikes on drug manufacturing bases and other targets inside Venezuela. “Very soon we’re going to start doing it on land, too, because we know every route, we know every house,” the President was quoted as saying earlier this month.
Growlers In The Caribbean
The Growler is an American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft, a specialized version of the combat-proven two-seat Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. It provides tactical jamming and electronic protection to US military forces and allies worldwide.
The Growler shares more than 90% of its characteristics with the standard Super Hornet, which is the workhorse of the US Navy’s carrier operations.
Derived from the F/A-18F Super Hornet, it combines fighter-like speed (Mach 1.8), range (over 1,000 nautical miles combat radius), and maneuverability with advanced jamming and intelligence-gathering tools. Its core strengths lie in suppressing enemy air defenses (SEAD), disrupting command-and-control (C2) networks, and protecting strike packages—making it a force multiplier for operations like those under Operation Southern Spear.
The EA-18G Growler is considered among the most advanced airborne electronic attack (AEA) platforms and is the only one still in production today. The Growler brings fighter aircraft speed and maneuverability to an electronic attack aircraft. It also provides critical electronic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data to other joint force aircraft.
It is a highly survivable platform equipped with the APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system for improved radar image resolution and targeting and tracking range.
The Growler is outfitted with the INCANS Interference Cancellation System for uninterrupted radio communications in a heavily jammed environment, and features a Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System for unparalleled aircrew situational awareness and head-up control of aircraft targeting systems and sensors. Additionally, it features the ALQ-227 Communications Countermeasures Set for locating, recording, playing back, and digitally jamming enemy communications over a wide frequency range.
The aircraft is equipped with ALQ-99 high and low-band tactical jamming pods and AN/ALQ-218 wide-band receivers on the wingtips. The two create a full-spectrum electronic warfare suite that can detect and jam any known surface-to-air threat together. The development of pods for new threats is ongoing, as per reports.
In real time, three Growlers connected to a network can produce targeting tracks for adversarial radio-frequency emitters. The Growler could precisely pinpoint signal sources using its EW pods and quicker data linkages.
When one of the three planes in the group picks up a signal from a source, such as a cell phone, the other two can listen for it as well. To triangulate the location to “a very, very small area,” all three measure the time it takes for transmissions to go from the source to each aircraft.
The USN has used EA-18s fitted with ALQ-218 receivers and Rockwell Collins’ tactical targeting network technology (TTNT) to acquire emissions from a target vessel and target it from a stand-off range without using their own detectable radar emissions.
The image published by Reuters of these aircraft at Puerto Rico shows some of the EA-18Gs equipped with brand-new AN/ALQ-249(V)1 Next Generation Jammer-Mid Band (NGJ-MB) electronic warfare pods, whereas others brandish the older pods. This combination of pods is frequently observed among deployed Growler units, as the transition from the ALQ-99 to the ALQ-249 is still underway.
The Growler’s electronic warfare suite also enables the collection of intelligence that may be used to develop “Electronic Orders of Battle,” revealing how their forces are to be deployed in a particular region, and to gain insights into the adversary’s capabilities. This information is particularly helpful for mapping out communications hubs and air defense networks for conducting foolproof strikes.
The aircraft can be equipped with two AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM). Last year, in a historic milestone, a US Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, deployed to the Red Sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (a.k.a “Ike”), achieved its first aerial kill.
The Navy did not specify the exact Houthi threat the Growler eliminated, but a video shared by Eisenhower’s commanding officer appeared to show a drone kill marking on the side of a Growler.
The aircraft can also be armed with two AGM-88 HARM missiles, which could be used to directly attack ground-based hostile air defenses and other strategic assets.
Venezuela’s integrated air defense system includes Russian-supplied S-300VM long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) around Caracas and key oil facilities, Buk-M2E medium-range systems, and short-range Pantsir-S1s, supported by Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighters and ground radars. While these assets pose risks to US assets, they are vulnerable to Growler-led EW dominance.
The deployment of Growlers near Venezuela could be aimed at sporting armed strikes against the country. Growlers could provide electronic warfare support to other combat hets launching standoff strikes or breaching enemy air defenses to reach their targets. Additionally, the jets could contribute to the survival of the standoff weapons.
Growlers may not lead kinetic strikes, but would certainly enable them by “blinding” Venezuelan sensors, creating windows for US F-35s, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, B-52s, or drones to penetrate and destroy high-value targets.
Moreover, they could also be useful for other task sets, such as combat search and rescue and the insertion and/or extraction of special operations forces or other ground elements.
For now, it remains to be seen whether Trump orders an attack on Venezuela or continues force projection.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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