Elements of the U.S. 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) conducted helocast training off Puerto Rico from a CH-53E Super Stallion and the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima. The exercise demonstrates a rapid, low-visibility ship-to-shore insertion capability in the Caribbean as regional tensions linked to Venezuela remain elevated.
Helocast training is routine for MEU(SOC) cycles, but the location and timing heighten its significance. Marines used enhanced combat rubber raiding crafts dropped from low-flying helicopters, then paddled to a discreet shoreline beyond adversary observation. Coordinated with USS Iwo Jima, the evolution sharpened over-the-horizon approaches, clandestine beach entries, and low-signature link-ups—key skills for reconnaissance, sensitive site exploitation, and precision littoral raids.
Using the CH-53E enables range, payload, and endurance for multiple simultaneous insertions while retaining self-recovery capability in challenging sea states. For a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, this translates into credible access where airfields and ports are denied or closely monitored.
The benefits are immediate: 1) Reduced response time for rapid deployment to surveil coastlines, secure infrastructure, or support partners. 2) Preserved political flexibility; sea-based operations offer options below the threshold of major combat. 3) Complicated adversary targeting; dispersed, quiet insertions are harder to detect than visible convoys or battalion-sized air assaults, especially along mangroves, river mouths, and shallow coastal shelves typical of Venezuelan littorals.
Strategically, the exercise reinforces deterrence to regional actors, provides a mobile, sovereign sea base for missions, and expands operational target sets from maritime interdiction to follow-on force support.
The message is clear: by validating helocast operations from a CH-53E and USS Iwo Jima near Puerto Rico, U.S. forces are refining the precise tools needed for rapid, proportional response in the Caribbean. If circumstances around Venezuela demand it, the U.S. has rehearsed the discreet, sea-based access required for effective deterrence and decisive action.
