The New York Times has found through an analysis of satellite imagery, and publicly available communications and fight data, that the U.S. military buildup has expanded to Central America. A U.S. Air Force AC-130J Ghostrider—an armed version of the C-130 transport plane—a U.S. Navy P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, and an unmarked Air Force C-40 transport plane have been identified as operating out of Cooperative Security Location Comalapa. This is a small American military outpost at El Salvador’s main airport. Two unnamed U.S. military officials confirmed to the Times that the presence of these aircraft is related to the increase in “counternarcotics missions” in the region.
It’s unclear if the aircraft are participating in airstrikes, but their deployment to the outpost coincided with an increase in attacks on targets in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which borders El Salvador, the Times reports. A Times analysis of publicly available radio messages between military aircraft and air traffic controllers found that the P-8 had flown at least six missions out of El Salvador. The attack aircraft and the Air Force jet have each flown at least one mission, the radio communications show.
