The United States Southern Command released a video on Wednesday from the flight deck of the USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28), showing the landing of a MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft from the Marine Corps during qualification exercises in the Caribbean Sea, as part of the Southern Spear Operation.
The images, captured on June 9, 2026, show the aircraft descending with its rotors in a vertical position over the deck of the amphibious ship, with the Caribbean Sea in the background beneath a cloudy sky.
The Osprey belongs to the Shore Combat Force-24 (LCF-24), a unit of over 1,300 Marines and sailors that relieved the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit on May 29, 2026.
Southern Command described the publication as a demonstration of "skill and precision" of its forces deployed in the Caribbean, and specified that the operations align with President Trump's priorities of "disrupting illicit drug trafficking and protecting the homeland through continuous presence."
The USS Fort Lauderdale is an amphibious transport dock of the San Antonio class that serves as the main platform for LCF-24. Its presence in the Caribbean is part of the largest U.S. military deployment in the region since the 1962 Missile Crisis, with more than 4,500 personnel and an estimated minimum cost of 4.7 billion dollars.
Operation Southern Spear was formally announced in November 2025 by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and authorizes lethal kinetic strikes against vessels linked to drug trafficking, breaking with the previous practice of capture and seizure.
Three days before the video was released, the Southern Command destroyed a drug boat in the Caribbean, resulting in two deaths and six survivors.
Since the beginning of the operation, attacks against vessels suspected of drug trafficking have resulted in more than 206 deaths. The frequency of these actions exceeds a lethal attack every four days.
The deployment also includes the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), which arrived in the Caribbean on May 20, 2026, as well as Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with the Aegis system, F-35B aircraft, and surveillance drones.
The Naval Base at Guantanamo has been designated as a vital logistical hub for the operation, and the U.S. has accumulated over 150 hours of aerial surveillance around Cuba since February 4, 2026.
Analysts point out that the deployment also has a geopolitical component aimed at exerting pressure on Cuba and Venezuela. However, President Trump dismissed in May the notion that the presence of the USS Nimitz was intended to intimidate Havana: "We are going to help them," he stated.
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