AC-130J Gunship with Hellfire Missiles in Puerto Rico Signals U.S. Readiness Near Venezuela
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A Reuters photo from Ceiba, Puerto Rico, shows a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II operating near an AC-130 gunship, signaling a mixed strike and special-operations presence close to Venezuela. Together with previous images of an AC-130J Ghostrider with Hellfires, the deployment indicates a sustained, heavily armed U.S. footprint in the southern Caribbean.
On 1 December 2025, a photograph from the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, shows a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II taxiing for takeoff while a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship sits parked nearby, taken by Ricardo Arduengo of Reuters. Circulating widely on social media, this new visual evidence confirms that the reactivated base is now hosting both Marine strike aircraft and a special-operations gunship in the same operating environment, just a short flight from Venezuela. As reported by Army Recognition Group on 11 October 2025, an AC-130J Ghostrider had already been documented in Puerto Rico carrying wing-mounted AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, an unusual configuration for the Caribbean theater. The October sighting and the 1 December image now form a coherent picture: a sustained, heavily armed U.S. air presence positioned on U.S. territory but within rapid reach of Venezuelan airspace and maritime approaches.
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A Hellfire armed AC-130J Ghostrider gunship operating alongside Marine AV-8B Harrier II jets from the reactivated Roosevelt Roads base in Puerto Rico highlights a sustained, forward-positioned U.S. airpower presence within rapid reach of Venezuelan airspace and nearby sea lanes (Picture Source: U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin/RicardoArduengo)
The AC-130J is the latest variant in the long-running U.S. gunship lineage, built on the C-130J airframe and equipped with the Precision Strike Package that combines advanced mission consoles, electro-optical and infrared sensors, and secure datalinks with side-firing weapons. According to official U.S. Air Force data, the Ghostrider is designed for close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance, providing persistent direct fire at low to medium altitude. Its standard armament includes a 30 mm GAU-23/A cannon and a 105 mm howitzer mounted on the left side of the fuselage, supplemented by precision-guided munitions carried on underwing pylons and inside common launch tubes. In addition to glide bombs such as the GBU-39 and GBU-69 and light missiles like the AGM-176 Griffin, the platform is certified to employ AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, giving the crew a line-of-sight, low-yield option against moving or time-sensitive targets.
The Hellfire loadout makes the Puerto Rico deployments particularly notable. Open-source imagery shows an AC-130J Ghostrider on the ramp at Roosevelt Roads equipped with wing-mounted AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, a configuration more commonly seen on helicopters or unmanned platforms in counter-insurgency theaters. Coupled with the Ghostrider’s multi-sensor suite, this setup enables the crew to threaten small surface targets such as fast-attack craft, smuggling boats, radar sites, or coastal strongpoints while maintaining standoff from traditional gun-employment patterns. In the crowded sea lanes around Venezuela and the eastern Caribbean, the combination provides a capable platform for surveillance, target identification, and, if authorized, precise interdiction with low collateral risk.
The choice of Roosevelt Roads as a hub amplifies the geostrategic message. Closed in 2004 and long considered a symbol of the U.S. drawdown in the Caribbean, the base has been progressively revitalized, with a Reuters visual investigation documenting new construction work, repaved taxiways and an increasing flow of military aircraft in late 2025. The reporting characterizes the site as a potential staging ground for sustained operations to support contingencies in or around Venezuela while remaining on U.S. soil. Satellite imagery and press photos published over recent weeks show fighter jets, refueling and transport aircraft, and now an AC-130 gunship operating from the former naval station, reinforcing the perception that Washington is re-establishing a layered air and logistics presence in the northeastern Caribbean.
From an operational perspective, the December 1 image highlights how the AC-130J is being integrated into a broader joint posture. The AV-8B Harrier II taxiing past the parked gunship belongs to a Marine air component embarked on the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, with aircraft from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (VMM-263) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit utilizing Roosevelt Roads as a shore base between sorties. Harriers (and, in other sequences from the deployment, F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing jets) provide high-speed strike capability, while the Ghostrider offers a slower, sensor-rich presence that can remain on station for extended periods. In a crisis, this combination would enable the United States to maintain persistent surveillance, direct Marine or naval fires, and, if necessary, employ Hellfire and other precision munitions directly from the gunship against smaller or less-defended targets at sea or along the coast.
Regionally, the pattern extends beyond Puerto Rico. Additional reporting has highlighted AC-130J activity from other locations in Central America, including operations from El Salvador disclosed in satellite imagery and press coverage in mid-November 2025, part of a broader U.S. effort to combine counter-narcotics missions with contingency planning related to Venezuela. In this context, a Hellfire-equipped Ghostrider at Roosevelt Roads, operating alongside Marine aviation and other U.S. assets, is less a standalone deployment than a visible node in a wider network of platforms and bases stretching across the Caribbean and Central American arc. For neighboring states, this posture may be reassuring in terms of maritime security and interdiction of illicit trafficking, but it also signals that any sudden deterioration in the Venezuelan crisis would find U.S. forces already positioned with surveillance and precision-strike options close at hand.
The presence of a Hellfire-armed AC-130J in Puerto Rico, now documented both in October and in the new 1 December Reuters image, therefore marks more than a technical curiosity in the gunship’s loadout. It anchors a posture in which U.S. special operations and Marine air power can monitor, deter and, if required by political decision, conduct limited, targeted actions in and around Venezuela without additional warning deployments. The key point is not whether a missile is eventually fired from the launcher under the Ghostrider’s wing, but the fact that such a capability is already in place, integrated with other assets and operating from a strategic base in the northeastern Caribbean that had long been dormant.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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A Reuters photo from Ceiba, Puerto Rico, shows a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II operating near an AC-130 gunship, signaling a mixed strike and special-operations presence close to Venezuela. Together with previous images of an AC-130J Ghostrider with Hellfires, the deployment indicates a sustained, heavily armed U.S. footprint in the southern Caribbean.
On 1 December 2025, a photograph from the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, shows a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II taxiing for takeoff while a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship sits parked nearby, taken by Ricardo Arduengo of Reuters. Circulating widely on social media, this new visual evidence confirms that the reactivated base is now hosting both Marine strike aircraft and a special-operations gunship in the same operating environment, just a short flight from Venezuela. As reported by Army Recognition Group on 11 October 2025, an AC-130J Ghostrider had already been documented in Puerto Rico carrying wing-mounted AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, an unusual configuration for the Caribbean theater. The October sighting and the 1 December image now form a coherent picture: a sustained, heavily armed U.S. air presence positioned on U.S. territory but within rapid reach of Venezuelan airspace and maritime approaches.
A Hellfire armed AC-130J Ghostrider gunship operating alongside Marine AV-8B Harrier II jets from the reactivated Roosevelt Roads base in Puerto Rico highlights a sustained, forward-positioned U.S. airpower presence within rapid reach of Venezuelan airspace and nearby sea lanes (Picture Source: U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin/RicardoArduengo)
The AC-130J is the latest variant in the long-running U.S. gunship lineage, built on the C-130J airframe and equipped with the Precision Strike Package that combines advanced mission consoles, electro-optical and infrared sensors, and secure datalinks with side-firing weapons. According to official U.S. Air Force data, the Ghostrider is designed for close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance, providing persistent direct fire at low to medium altitude. Its standard armament includes a 30 mm GAU-23/A cannon and a 105 mm howitzer mounted on the left side of the fuselage, supplemented by precision-guided munitions carried on underwing pylons and inside common launch tubes. In addition to glide bombs such as the GBU-39 and GBU-69 and light missiles like the AGM-176 Griffin, the platform is certified to employ AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, giving the crew a line-of-sight, low-yield option against moving or time-sensitive targets.
The Hellfire loadout makes the Puerto Rico deployments particularly notable. Open-source imagery shows an AC-130J Ghostrider on the ramp at Roosevelt Roads equipped with wing-mounted AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, a configuration more commonly seen on helicopters or unmanned platforms in counter-insurgency theaters. Coupled with the Ghostrider’s multi-sensor suite, this setup enables the crew to threaten small surface targets such as fast-attack craft, smuggling boats, radar sites, or coastal strongpoints while maintaining standoff from traditional gun-employment patterns. In the crowded sea lanes around Venezuela and the eastern Caribbean, the combination provides a capable platform for surveillance, target identification, and, if authorized, precise interdiction with low collateral risk.
The choice of Roosevelt Roads as a hub amplifies the geostrategic message. Closed in 2004 and long considered a symbol of the U.S. drawdown in the Caribbean, the base has been progressively revitalized, with a Reuters visual investigation documenting new construction work, repaved taxiways and an increasing flow of military aircraft in late 2025. The reporting characterizes the site as a potential staging ground for sustained operations to support contingencies in or around Venezuela while remaining on U.S. soil. Satellite imagery and press photos published over recent weeks show fighter jets, refueling and transport aircraft, and now an AC-130 gunship operating from the former naval station, reinforcing the perception that Washington is re-establishing a layered air and logistics presence in the northeastern Caribbean.
From an operational perspective, the December 1 image highlights how the AC-130J is being integrated into a broader joint posture. The AV-8B Harrier II taxiing past the parked gunship belongs to a Marine air component embarked on the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, with aircraft from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (VMM-263) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit utilizing Roosevelt Roads as a shore base between sorties. Harriers (and, in other sequences from the deployment, F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing jets) provide high-speed strike capability, while the Ghostrider offers a slower, sensor-rich presence that can remain on station for extended periods. In a crisis, this combination would enable the United States to maintain persistent surveillance, direct Marine or naval fires, and, if necessary, employ Hellfire and other precision munitions directly from the gunship against smaller or less-defended targets at sea or along the coast.
Regionally, the pattern extends beyond Puerto Rico. Additional reporting has highlighted AC-130J activity from other locations in Central America, including operations from El Salvador disclosed in satellite imagery and press coverage in mid-November 2025, part of a broader U.S. effort to combine counter-narcotics missions with contingency planning related to Venezuela. In this context, a Hellfire-equipped Ghostrider at Roosevelt Roads, operating alongside Marine aviation and other U.S. assets, is less a standalone deployment than a visible node in a wider network of platforms and bases stretching across the Caribbean and Central American arc. For neighboring states, this posture may be reassuring in terms of maritime security and interdiction of illicit trafficking, but it also signals that any sudden deterioration in the Venezuelan crisis would find U.S. forces already positioned with surveillance and precision-strike options close at hand.
The presence of a Hellfire-armed AC-130J in Puerto Rico, now documented both in October and in the new 1 December Reuters image, therefore marks more than a technical curiosity in the gunship’s loadout. It anchors a posture in which U.S. special operations and Marine air power can monitor, deter and, if required by political decision, conduct limited, targeted actions in and around Venezuela without additional warning deployments. The key point is not whether a missile is eventually fired from the launcher under the Ghostrider’s wing, but the fact that such a capability is already in place, integrated with other assets and operating from a strategic base in the northeastern Caribbean that had long been dormant.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
