In what was another incident in Venezuelan airspace, an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet of the Bolivarian Military Aviation intercepted a hostile aircraft after it ignored orders from local air traffic controllers. The aircraft was destroyed on the ground in its attempt to evade the Venezuelan jets.
The incident took place in the state of Portuguesa, in northwest Venezuela. According to the Operational Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), General-in-Chief Domingo Hernández Lárez, the deployment of F-16 fighters occurred within the framework of the Early Warning Plan, where the presence of FANB’s aerial and ground forces was ordered.
The decision to deploy the interceptors was due to the “…detection on the radars of the Comprehensive Aerospace Defense Command (CODAI) and FIR Maiquetia of the illegal entry of a low-flying vector, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty…”.
Once the hostile aircraft was detected, the jets of the Bolivarian Military Aviation carried out procedures to persuade the pilot and force a landing at a designated airport, as is usually dictated by current international regulations for such cases.
However, “…the pilot ignored the orders, attempting to evade the FANB combat aircraft and proceeding to perform low-altitude evasive maneuvers until executing a forced landing in a field near Turen in Portuguesa state…”, detailed the FANB Operational Commander on his X account.
The aircraft in question was a Piper PA-34-200T Seneca II with registration PR-RP. Nearby, the remains of the pilot and relevant documentation were found: a Mexican passport, a flight license issued in the United States, as well as other materials linking the aircraft to drug trafficking, according to the head of the FANB.
Related to this incident, it was also reported that Venezuela’s combat aviation carried out air-to-ground operations against infrastructure belonging to drug trafficking organizations. As part of Operation Lightning of Catatumbo, K-8W Karakorum light attack aircraft disabled illegal runways by dropping bombs. These actions took place in the Semprún municipality of Zulia state.
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