In a dramatic operation that has reverberated across global defence and political circles, United States forces on 3 January 2026 carried out what officials described as a “precision special military mission” inside Venezuela, culminating in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve, the three-hour raid has drawn as much attention for its geopolitical shockwaves as for the near-total collapse of Venezuela’s air defence network during the assault.
According to multiple defence and security sources, the operation involved an extraordinary level of coordination, with more than 150 aircraft, including stealth platforms, transport planes, electronic warfare assets and helicopters, supporting US special operations forces on the ground. Despite Venezuela’s long-standing claims of possessing one of the most robust air defence systems in Latin America, no effective interception or early warning was mounted as US forces entered, operated within, and exited Venezuelan airspace.
Venezuela’s air defence architecture has, for years, been promoted by Caracas as a deterrent against foreign intervention. Built largely with Chinese and Russian technology, the system was anchored by long-range surveillance radars, layered surface-to-air missile batteries and integrated command-and-control nodes. At its core were Chinese-manufactured radars, particularly the JY-27 VHF-band long-range surveillance radar produced by the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC).
Beijing has marketed the JY-27 aggressively on the international arms market as a so-called “stealth hunter,” claiming that its low-frequency VHF waves are capable of detecting advanced stealth aircraft such as the US-made F-35 and F-22, which are designed to evade conventional radar systems. Venezuela is believed to have acquired around nine JY-27 units, positioning them as the backbone of its early warning and airspace surveillance network.
However, during Operation Absolute Resolve, these systems reportedly failed to provide any meaningful warning. Defence analysts say US electronic warfare aircraft—widely believed to include EA-18G Growlers—launched intensive jamming and electronic suppression efforts in the opening phase of the mission. These actions appear to have overwhelmed Venezuelan sensors, effectively blinding the JY-27 radars despite their theoretical advantages against stealth platforms.
“The idea that low-frequency radars automatically negate stealth is overly simplistic,” said a Western defence analyst familiar with electronic warfare doctrine. “If the radar is jammed, spoofed or denied usable data, detection becomes irrelevant. That seems to be exactly what happened here.”
The breakdown was not limited to Venezuela’s much-touted anti-stealth capabilities. Other elements of its surveillance network, including the Chinese JYL-1 long-range 3D radar system, also failed to generate actionable tracking information. The JYL-1 is designed to monitor multiple aerial targets simultaneously and cue surface-to-air missile systems, but during the raid it reportedly provided no effective targeting data.
Open-source intelligence and regional military reporting suggest that Venezuela’s air defence readiness had already been compromised before the operation. Chronic shortages of spare parts, limited access to technical support and years of inadequate maintenance are believed to have left large portions of the network degraded. Some estimates indicate that as many as half of the JYL-1 radars were non-operational at the time of the US action.
This paralysis had direct consequences for Venezuela’s missile defences. Russian-supplied S-300VM and Buk-M2E surface-to-air missile systems, which rely heavily on radar guidance, were unable to engage incoming aircraft. US forces reportedly employed a combination of electronic countermeasures and anti-radiation missiles to neutralize these batteries before they could launch, rendering Venezuela’s kinetic defences effectively useless.
Military experts have drawn parallels between the Venezuelan episode and recent conflicts elsewhere, particularly Operation Sindoor in May 2025, when Indian forces struck targets in Pakistan. In that conflict, Pakistan’s air defence network—also heavily dependent on Chinese-supplied radars and missile systems—struggled to counter Indian precision strikes amid intense electronic warfare. In both cases, systems that appeared formidable on paper failed when confronted by a technologically superior adversary employing modern electronic attack tactics.
The outcome of Operation Absolute Resolve, in which US forces reportedly suffered only minor damage to a single helicopter, has intensified scrutiny of Chinese military exports. While often attractive to buyers because of lower costs and fewer political conditions compared to Western systems, Chinese radars and missiles are increasingly being questioned for their performance in high-intensity combat environments.
For President Maduro, the consequences have been immediate and personal. Long wanted by US authorities on narco-terrorism charges filed in New York, he is now in American custody and faces extradition proceedings. For Venezuela, the operation represents a profound strategic humiliation.
Beyond Caracas, the implications are being felt across the global arms market. The raid has underscored a growing consensus among defence planners: in an era dominated by advanced electronic warfare, cyber operations and networked battlefields, unproven “anti-stealth” claims offer little protection. As Operation Absolute Resolve has demonstrated, the true test of military technology is not marketing brochures—but performance under fire.
