By The Opinion
The United States Armed Forces carried out at least 25 military flights near Cuba to collect intelligence since last February, in a deployment that analysts compare with operations prior to US military actions in Venezuela and Iran, as revealed by CNN.
According to the report, the majority of the United States Navy and Air Force flights, recorded since February 4, have occurred near the island’s two largest cities, Havana and Santiago de Cuba, with some that have been within a range of 64 kilometers from the coast, the media added.
CNN noted that “similar patterns, in which heightened rhetoric from the Trump Administration coincided with an increase in public visibility of surveillance flights, “They occurred in the period prior to US military operations in both Venezuela and Iran.”
A CNN graphic exhibiting the most modern US intelligence-gathering flights around Cuba, the most to own came about in years apparently. pic.twitter.com/HUxLW8pFuc
— Patrick Oppmann CNN (@CNN_Oppmann) Also can 10, 2026
According to the report, the missions were carried out mainly with P-8A Poseidon aircraft, used for maritime patrol, surveillance and strategic reconnaissance.. RC-135V Rivet Joint aircraft, specialized in signals intelligence, as well as high-altitude MQ-4C Triton drones also participated.
Specialists consulted by US media indicated that this type of aircraft is used to intercept communications, monitor military installations and collect electronic information on strategic infrastructure.
CNN also highlighted that the increase in these flights is “unusual” due to their frequency and proximity to Cuban territory. since these types of publicly visible operations were not common in the region before February of this year.
The increase in intelligence flights revives memories of historical episodes such as the Missile Crisis of 1962, when the United States intensified aerial reconnaissance operations over Cuba in the midst of the confrontation with the Soviet Union.
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