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Topic: Land Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Americas Tags: Air Defense, Fighter Jets, Russia, South America, Tanks, United States, and Venezuela The United States Could Capture a Russian Arsenal in Venezuela January 7, 2026 By: Peter Suciu
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A full-bore American invasion of Venezuela would have immense costs—but would also likely give the United States access to a vast trove of advanced Russian military equipment.
Just hours after US military forces were able to capture and detain Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump vowed that the US would “run” the South American country to control its oil interests. The US president also didn’t rule out the possibility of US boots on the ground in Venezuela to defend America’s interests.
If the United States military does mount an invasion, it could face potentially more vigorous opposition than it did more than two decades ago in the “regime change” and nation-building operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Venezuela’s military is armed with far more modern and capable Russian military hardware, and it is doubtful the US will have anything resembling the coalition force that took part in the invasions in 2001 and 2003.
On the flip side, however, should the US efforts to see regime change come to fruition, it could provide the United States Department of Defense (DoD) with a great deal of insight into the Kremlin’s newest military hardware.
America Could Capture Russian-Made S-300VM Air Defense Systems
The highly coordinated attack launched in the early hours of Saturday on Venezuela went flawlessly, despite the fact that the South American nation has significant air defense systems.
As Euromaidan Press explained, “Among the most valuable assets are S-300VM surface-to-air missile systems, delivered by Russia in 2013.” Caracas is believed to possess two battalions of the S-300VM (Antey-2500), but based on the way the raid unfolded, the air defenses didn’t perform quite as expected. Maduro had repeatedly bragged about their capabilities, but the S-300VM failed to deliver during the raid.
Last October, Moscow also provided Caracas with an undisclosed number of Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M2 systems, but reports indicate that some of those systems may have been destroyed during the US strikes.
Venezuela Has Plenty of Russian Ground Assets, Too
One of the Venezuelan military’s most capable ground platforms is the Russian-made T-72B main battle tank (MBT), of which 92 are reported to be in operation. The US is unlikely to gain any additional insight from the T-72Bs or the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), of which 123 are believed to be in service. An additional 114 BTR-80A armored personnel carriers (APCs) and 48 Msta-S self-propelled guns are believed to be in operation. The US could also face as many as two dozen Grad multiple rocket launchers and 12 300-mm Smerch multiple rocket launchers.
Of interest to the Pentagon are the Iranian Mohajer-6 reconnaissance-strike UAVs and the Chinese amphibious BMP VN-16 (ZBD-05) that have been supplied to Caracas.
“Maintaining this equipment without Russian support is virtually impossible,” Euromaidan Press added. “Experts suggest a large portion of the arsenal may be decommissioned, sold, or rendered inoperable, while Washington is likely interested in gradually disarming Venezuelan forces and transitioning them to American systems.”
If regime change occurs and Washington attempts to arm Caracas in its own image, some of the secondhand hardware could be sent to Ukraine, although the current US administration may be less inclined to do so.
Could America Get Its Hands on a Su-30MKV Fighter Jet?
The other platform the DoD would likely closely examine is the Venezuelan Air Force’s Sukhoi Su-30MKV, the export variant of the Su-30MKK (NATO reporting name “Flanker-G”) jet fighter. At present, 14 of the 24 aircraft delivered are reported to be in service, with at least three others lost in accidents—and the remainder not operational due to a lack of spare parts.
Russia has aided Caracas with an undisclosed number of R-77 air-to-air missiles, one of the most capable in Russian service.
The question is whether Venezuela’s military will use these weapons to defend its soil or happily hand them over to the US military. The world will be watching closely.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
Image: Shutterstock / J_K.
The post The United States Could Capture a Russian Arsenal in Venezuela appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org