A KC-135 Stratotanker tanker aircraft circled multiple times at midday on Monday during a mission north of Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta state, amid the military deployment ordered by US President Donald Trump against drug cartels in the Caribbean Sea.
The aircraft's flyover quickly became the most followed on the digital monitor FlightRadar24, where the aircraft, call code DREW11 and registration 61-0321, made several turns over the open sea at an altitude of more than 25,000 feet (7,620 meters).
Although the specific nature of the mission has not been clarified, it most likely provided aerial refueling to other military units in the air that were never available for radar tracking.
The KC-135 Stratotanker took off early in the morning from Peter O'Knight Airport in Tampa, on Florida's west coast.
The first versions of the KC-135 Stratotanker entered service in 1957 and have since become one of the most important logistics aircraft in the US Air Force.
The latest models are capable of transporting more than 37 tons of fuel, with an approximate transfer volume of 3,700 liters per minute.
Since the arrival in the Caribbean Sea of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the war tension between the White House and the Miraflores Palace has escalated dramatically, with a turning point that could be definitive next Monday, when the State Department is set to officially designate the Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization.
