U.S. EA-18G Electronic Attack Jets Suppressed Venezuelan Air Defenses During Special Forces Operation
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On 3 January 2026, Operation Absolute Resolve over Caracas disabled Venezuelan air defenses to allow helicopters to enter and exit safely. It highlights how electronic warfare and stealth can briefly open access inside defended airspace.
On 3 January 2026, Operation Absolute Resolve unfolded over Caracas as a time-critical joint mission rather than a conventional air campaign. In a public account, Gen. Dan Caine said the joint air component “dismantled and disabled” Venezuelan air-defense systems, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of helicopters into the target area and back out. The relevance goes beyond this single raid: it offers a rare, publicly described example of how electronic warfare and stealth air dominance can be combined to open a narrow access window inside defended airspace.
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The EA-18G Growler is the U.S. Navy’s dedicated electronic attack aircraft, designed to jam, deceive, and suppress enemy radars and air-defense networks to protect strike and assault forces (Picture Source: U.S. Navy)
For a helicopter-centric operation, the decisive problem is not simply whether air-defense launchers exist, but whether the defender can execute a coherent kill chain fast enough to detect, track, coordinate, and engage low-flying aircraft during the most exposed segment of ingress and extraction. “Disabling” an air-defense system in this context can mean breaking the network’s timing and confidence, forcing operators into emissions dilemmas, and degrading command links long enough to prevent a synchronized engagement. The objective is a time-bounded suppression window that protects the assault force at the moment surprise is most fragile.
The EA-18G Growler is purpose-built for this task because it combines fighter performance with a dedicated airborne electronic attack mission system and a two-person crew optimized for spectrum warfare. Based on the F/A-18F, it carries a pilot and an electronic warfare officer and operates as both an escort platform and an enabler that can shape the electromagnetic environment ahead of a package. A central element is the AN/ALQ-218 receiver system integrated with the aircraft’s wingtip pods, which supports detection, identification, and geolocation of hostile emitters across wide portions of the radio-frequency spectrum, allowing rapid threat characterization and cueing as the situation develops.
Growlers convert that sensing advantage into effects through podded jamming and communications attack systems carried on external stations. The legacy AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System is designed to interfere with radar functions associated with early warning, acquisition, and fire control, supporting both escort jamming near the protected route and standoff effects when geometry demands it. In parallel, communications countermeasures can disrupt the voice and data pathways that connect sensors, command posts, and firing units, a critical pressure point for air defenses that depend on timely cueing and coordination rather than stand-alone engagements.
The platform is also transitioning to a more modern jamming architecture with the AN/ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer, introduced in increments beginning with a mid-band capability built around active electronically scanned array techniques. Army Recognition’s pre-operation reporting on Growler posture in the region underscored why this matters operationally: forward-positioned aircraft provide proximity and sortie generation, while a carrier-based Growler element provides axis flexibility and endurance options. Separate Army Recognition coverage of Growlers operating from a U.S. carrier also highlighted the Navy’s shift toward an “electronic warfare phase” in which pod modernization and deployment patterns are treated as enabling steps for broader joint objectives, not niche support activity.
The Growler’s effects are most powerful when integrated with air dominance, and this is where the F-22 component becomes analytically important. Public reporting linked F-22 Raptors to the air component supporting Absolute Resolve, and their most credible role in this construct is to keep the airspace uncontested while electronic attack degrades surface-based defenses. With low observability, the APG-77 AESA radar, and sensor fusion that integrates multiple inputs into a single tactical picture, the F-22 is optimized to detect, prioritize, and engage airborne threats before they can meaningfully interfere with a complex joint package. In regional terms, Venezuela’s Su-30-class fighters represent its most credible air-to-air capability, making a stealth counter-air umbrella a logical companion to Growler-led suppression when helicopters must move on a fixed timeline.
The central lesson from Caine’s description is that modern access is increasingly decided in the electromagnetic layer before the first helicopter reaches its landing zone. If Growlers helped “dismantle and disable” Venezuelan air defenses, their value was operationally decisive in creating a narrow but sufficient suppression window that protected the raid’s critical movement. For U.S. planners, the implication is that scarce airborne electronic attack capacity and its pod modernization remain strategic enablers, not niche support. For adversaries, the message is equally clear: survival in the opening minutes of a joint operation will depend on emissions discipline, mobility, decoys, redundant command links, and the ability to fight through a degraded spectrum while facing stealth aircraft that can deny them time as well as space.
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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On 3 January 2026, Operation Absolute Resolve over Caracas disabled Venezuelan air defenses to allow helicopters to enter and exit safely. It highlights how electronic warfare and stealth can briefly open access inside defended airspace.
On 3 January 2026, Operation Absolute Resolve unfolded over Caracas as a time-critical joint mission rather than a conventional air campaign. In a public account, Gen. Dan Caine said the joint air component “dismantled and disabled” Venezuelan air-defense systems, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of helicopters into the target area and back out. The relevance goes beyond this single raid: it offers a rare, publicly described example of how electronic warfare and stealth air dominance can be combined to open a narrow access window inside defended airspace.
The EA-18G Growler is the U.S. Navy’s dedicated electronic attack aircraft, designed to jam, deceive, and suppress enemy radars and air-defense networks to protect strike and assault forces (Picture Source: U.S. Navy)
For a helicopter-centric operation, the decisive problem is not simply whether air-defense launchers exist, but whether the defender can execute a coherent kill chain fast enough to detect, track, coordinate, and engage low-flying aircraft during the most exposed segment of ingress and extraction. “Disabling” an air-defense system in this context can mean breaking the network’s timing and confidence, forcing operators into emissions dilemmas, and degrading command links long enough to prevent a synchronized engagement. The objective is a time-bounded suppression window that protects the assault force at the moment surprise is most fragile.
The EA-18G Growler is purpose-built for this task because it combines fighter performance with a dedicated airborne electronic attack mission system and a two-person crew optimized for spectrum warfare. Based on the F/A-18F, it carries a pilot and an electronic warfare officer and operates as both an escort platform and an enabler that can shape the electromagnetic environment ahead of a package. A central element is the AN/ALQ-218 receiver system integrated with the aircraft’s wingtip pods, which supports detection, identification, and geolocation of hostile emitters across wide portions of the radio-frequency spectrum, allowing rapid threat characterization and cueing as the situation develops.
Growlers convert that sensing advantage into effects through podded jamming and communications attack systems carried on external stations. The legacy AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System is designed to interfere with radar functions associated with early warning, acquisition, and fire control, supporting both escort jamming near the protected route and standoff effects when geometry demands it. In parallel, communications countermeasures can disrupt the voice and data pathways that connect sensors, command posts, and firing units, a critical pressure point for air defenses that depend on timely cueing and coordination rather than stand-alone engagements.
The platform is also transitioning to a more modern jamming architecture with the AN/ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer, introduced in increments beginning with a mid-band capability built around active electronically scanned array techniques. Army Recognition’s pre-operation reporting on Growler posture in the region underscored why this matters operationally: forward-positioned aircraft provide proximity and sortie generation, while a carrier-based Growler element provides axis flexibility and endurance options. Separate Army Recognition coverage of Growlers operating from a U.S. carrier also highlighted the Navy’s shift toward an “electronic warfare phase” in which pod modernization and deployment patterns are treated as enabling steps for broader joint objectives, not niche support activity.
The Growler’s effects are most powerful when integrated with air dominance, and this is where the F-22 component becomes analytically important. Public reporting linked F-22 Raptors to the air component supporting Absolute Resolve, and their most credible role in this construct is to keep the airspace uncontested while electronic attack degrades surface-based defenses. With low observability, the APG-77 AESA radar, and sensor fusion that integrates multiple inputs into a single tactical picture, the F-22 is optimized to detect, prioritize, and engage airborne threats before they can meaningfully interfere with a complex joint package. In regional terms, Venezuela’s Su-30-class fighters represent its most credible air-to-air capability, making a stealth counter-air umbrella a logical companion to Growler-led suppression when helicopters must move on a fixed timeline.
The central lesson from Caine’s description is that modern access is increasingly decided in the electromagnetic layer before the first helicopter reaches its landing zone. If Growlers helped “dismantle and disable” Venezuelan air defenses, their value was operationally decisive in creating a narrow but sufficient suppression window that protected the raid’s critical movement. For U.S. planners, the implication is that scarce airborne electronic attack capacity and its pod modernization remain strategic enablers, not niche support. For adversaries, the message is equally clear: survival in the opening minutes of a joint operation will depend on emissions discipline, mobility, decoys, redundant command links, and the ability to fight through a degraded spectrum while facing stealth aircraft that can deny them time as well as space.
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.
