The Cuban-American congressman Carlos Giménez participated this Friday in an event in South Florida alongside executives from Lockheed Martin and local authorities to promote the deployment of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets at the Homestead Air Reserve Base, just over 90 nautical miles from Cuba. He issued a direct warning to the regime in Havana, as reported by NTN24.
The Republican lawmaker justified the deployment with a strong statement: "We know that Cuba is a threat to the security of the United States, which is why we need to have this kind of presence here with the F-35 and other capabilities, always keeping an eye on the threat that is Cuba."
Giménez emphasized the technical superiority of the new fighter compared to the F-16s currently operating in Homestead:
"This aircraft has capabilities that the F-16 does not, and I also believe that the Cuban regime will not appreciate its presence in their territory. The F-16 can reach there, but the capabilities of the F-35, not only in terms of the aircraft itself but also in terms of intelligence, mean that the Cubans won't even know it is in their area because they can't detect it."
The congressman added that the difference in detection is staggering: “The F-16 is not like this; it can be seen on radar. This one, however, is hardly visible on radar, so the capabilities of this aircraft are much greater, far superior to those of the F-16.”
In the event, Giménez also described the F-35 as the backbone of the U.S. military aviation.
"In English, it is called the backbone of our air forces, it is the F-35, which is why it is so important that we are now going to replace the F-16s they have in Homestead with F-35s to keep the base operational," he stated.
The congressman has been advocating for this deployment for over a year: in June 2025, he led a letter to President Trump specifically requesting the placement of F-35s in Homestead, making the announcement the culmination of ongoing efforts before the White House.
The deployment: 24 fifth-generation fighters
The Department of the Air Force announced on May 8 that Homestead was selected as a candidate to receive 24 F-35A Lightning II fighters, replacing the 24 F-16s from the 482nd Fighter Wing, a process subject to environmental review.
Full operational capacity is projected for 2035.
At Friday's event, there was a professional flight simulator of the F-35, transported in a large truck, along with the CEO of Lockheed Martin.
The state senator of district 40, Ana María Rodríguez, celebrated the economic impact.
"For me, it is important to attract jobs, new employment opportunities for my community, and this means thousands of jobs for people in the sector of creating these equipment as well as in the storage sector. For us, this represents a significant amount of money in investments," he said according to NTN24.
Increasing military pressure on Cuba
The announcement comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Havana.
The Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned this month, during a visit to Panama, that Cuba "would do well to pay attention to President Trump's will" and that Washington keeps "all options on the table, including military options".
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico has become the epicenter of large-scale maneuvers: more than 8,100 U.S. soldiers conducted exercises between May and August, with activity at the Roosevelt Roads base —reactivated in late 2025— and in Ponce.
This scenario adds to the concern regarding the regime's arsenal of drones.
According to intelligence reports cited by Infobae, Cuba has reportedly accumulated over 300 military drones of Russian and Iranian origin since 2023, a point that Giménez has cited to emphasize the need for the F-35 in Homestead.
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