Pentagon intensifies tensed situation with Latin American countries

 
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, billed by the US Navy as “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal combat platform in the world,” is being sent to the Caribbean as the Trump administration ramps up military pressure on Venezuela over alleged drug trafficking.

Here’s a look at the Ford and the military assets it will bring to US operations in the region. With a displacement of more than 100,000 tons and a length of 1,100 feet, the Ford is the largest warship the US has ever put to sea.

Commissioned in 2017, it’s the first of its class, the successor to the Navy’s 10 Nimitz-class carriers, the oldest of which will be retired next year.

It carries a crew of almost 4,600, including its air wing. That’s about 20% less personnel than the Nimitz class, which the Navy says is possible because of more efficient systems on the Ford.

Those efficiencies are what make the Ford the most advanced carrier in the world and result from its two nuclear reactors, whose exact specs are classified but that put out three times the electrical power of those on the Nimitz-class ships, according to the Navy. That extra power enables the Ford to operate the electromagnetic aircraft launch system . Using magnets instead of steam to power the ship’s catapults gives the Ford the ability to launch aircraft faster and with heavier weapons and more fuel, increasing the range and lethality of its fighter jets.

The same science applies to its 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators, which use electromagnetic motors rather than hydraulics, meaning it can move munitions more quickly from magazines to the flight deck and loaded onto aircraft.

The ship also boasts the Navy’s Advanced Arresting Gear, the system which essentially grabs the tailhook of aircraft with wires when they touch down on its flight deck. The Navy says the digitally controlled system allows for increased sortie rates and lower energy consumption. The US has placed sanctions on Colombia's President, Gustavo Petro, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking and allowing cartels to "flourish".

The decision is the latest in a growing diplomatic dispute between the Latin American nation's first left-wing leader and his US counterpart Donald Trump. The two have clashed over US strikes on boats it says are being used to smuggle drugs, killing dozens including some Colombian nationals. Trump has said other nations had failed to stop the boats, while Petro has accused him of "murder".

Colombia was once a close ally of Washington's war on drugs, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars annually in military assistance to counter drug gangs.