U.S. deploys aircraft carrier to South America as Trump ramps up anti-drug operations

The U.S. military is sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to waters off South America, according to the Pentagon. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deployment to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who shared the announcement on social media Friday. 

The Ford strike group includes five destroyers, but it remains unclear how many will ultimately go to the Southern Command theater. The aircraft carrier was docked in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea as of Friday, following recent operations in the Mediterranean, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea, according to a person familiar with the mission who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The deployment follows a series of U.S. strikes recently on vessels that the Pentagon said were carrying narcotics.