The Navy's USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group entered the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility on Tuesday, marking a major redeployment of U.S. naval power to the Western Hemisphere.
"The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.
The carrier group's assignment to the SOUTHCOM region marks a significant expansion of naval power in the Caribbean and South American region.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered the carrier from the Mediterranean to Latin American waters Oct. 24, citing the need to strengthen counternarcotics efforts and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.
The Ford, the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, left the Mediterranean Sea in early November, transiting the Strait of Gibraltar before heading west.
Once in the SOUTHCOM theater, the carrier strike group will join U.S. naval assets already deployed in the region, creating one of the largest concentrations of maritime force in SOUTHCOM's waters.
While the mission's official focus is drug interdiction and maritime security, defense analysts say the deployment sends a broader message of deterrence to adversarial states and criminal networks.
One expert noted that such a high-end naval asset projects deterrence as much as it conducts interdiction.
The carrier's arrival raises the U.S. maritime profile in the region, intensifying the tempo and scale of operations alongside air and surface platforms already deployed.
U.S. officials did not provide exact dates or locations of the Ford's arrival, citing operational security, but confirmed it is operating in SOUTHCOM's designated area.
The redeployment also comes amid heightened tensions around U.S. efforts to combat drug-smuggling routes from Venezuela and other countries in the Caribbean basin. The U.S. claims the enhanced naval presence will support detection, interdiction and dismantling of organized trafficking operations.
Naval officials emphasize that the Ford's embarked air wing and destroyer escorts greatly expand the range and persistence of U.S. maritime operations in the hemisphere.
The carrier strike group's capabilities, including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike assets, enable more robust maritime domain awareness and enforcement action.