Posted on 01/07/2026 6:34:37 AM PST by Red Badger
The success of a lightning-fast raid on Caracas raises new doubts about Chinese military capabilities, a military analyst said.
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U.S. forces stormed into Venezuela before dawn on Jan. 3 and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a lightning operation that punched in and out of Caracas before its air defenses could mount an effective response.
The operation resulted in no U.S. fatalities and no loss of U.S. military equipment, U.S. officials said.
The U.S. mission—code-named Operation Absolute Resolve—has quickly become more than a political shockwave. Analysts have said it was also a real-world test of U.S. military power against a country that has spent years buying Chinese- and Russian-made air-defense systems and showcasing them as proof that it could deter Washington.
The raid raised uncomfortable questions for Beijing about the limits of the Chinese-supplied systems that Venezuela has leaned on—especially “anti-stealth” radar that China advertised as capable of spotting and stopping U.S. stealth aircraft, a military analyst said.
The analyst told The Epoch Times that the most damaging takeaway for China isn’t the failure of a single piece of equipment—it’s what the operation suggested about deeper weaknesses: corruption in China’s defense industry and lack of reliability of the technology and command structure meant to tie those systems together.
“A system built to look modern on paper and intimidating in propaganda falls apart under the demands of real combat,” said Yu Tsung-chi, a retired major general from Taiwan and former president of the Political Warfare College at Taiwan’s National Defense University.
He said Beijing’s performance claims often lean more on messaging than combat validation.
China condemned the capture of Maduro and accused Washington of acting as a “world judge,” in a blunt response that underscored how closely Beijing saw the fallout tied to its influence and credibility in Latin America. Operation Measured in Hours President Donald Trump ordered the operation at 10:46 p.m. ET on Jan. 2, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said. Aircraft launched from about 20 land and sea bases across the Western Hemisphere, and the helicopter force approached Venezuela at roughly 100 feet above the water to maintain the element of surprise.
Within five hours, by 3:29 a.m. ET, U.S. forces had Maduro and Flores aboard the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship. They were then flown to the United States.
This illustration depicts Caracas and the states in which the Venezuelan regime said U.S. military strikes occurred before the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3, 2025. Anika Arora Seth, Phil Holm via AP
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U.S. officials said the operation involved more than 150 aircraft along with integrated electronic attack and nonkinetic effects from U.S. Cyber Command, Space Command, and other assets to suppress Venezuelan defenses and clear a path for the helicopters.
Briefings described a layered effects approach: bombers, fighters, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, electronic warfare jets, and drones overhead; space and cyber support to disrupt Venezuelan systems; and strikes intended to dismantle and disable air defenses as helicopters closed on Caracas.
According to officials, aircraft used in the operation included B-1B bombers, F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightning II fighters, EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets, E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft, and numerous drones alongside transport and helicopter assets.
China’s Systems
For years, Venezuela has spent heavily on Chinese and Russian equipment while claiming that it was building one of the region’s most modern defense systems.
In recent months, reports have highlighted Venezuela’s installation of Chinese-made JY-27A radar units, marketed as able to detect “low-observable” aircraft—exactly the kind of system meant to complicate U.S. operations involving stealth platforms.
That promise did not hold on Jan. 3.
Yu said neither Chinese nor Russian air-defense systems “made the slightest bit of difference” once the United States brought real-time intelligence, electronic warfare, and precision weapons to bear.
The real contest, he said, wasn’t just radar range or missile specs, but a fast chain of detection, communications, decision-making, and joint execution—exactly where weaker militaries tend to break.
Beyond radar, Venezuela has also displayed and fielded Chinese-made ground systems that Beijing has marketed abroad—from VN-16 amphibious assault vehicles and VN-18 infantry fighting vehicles to Chinese rocket artillery systems.
Venezuelan parades in recent years have showcased those platforms as symbols of a growing partnership and a tougher military posture.
But Yu said glossy displays don’t matter much if the wider network—sensors, communications, command, training, and logistics—can’t hold up under pressure.
Parades Versus Combat Reality
Yu said the U.S. raid on Caracas exposed the limits of China’s propaganda-first military culture—one that rewards polished demonstrations more than hard, repeated combat validation.
He said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has not fought a major war since 1979, and it studies foreign conflicts in part because it lacks large-scale, recent battlefield feedback of its own.
“You can look perfectly aligned and advanced on a parade ground,” Yu said, “but without real combat to back it up, it’s all just stage effects.”
The U.S. operation in Venezuela, he said, hit Beijing especially hard because the communist regime has spent years promoting its weapons and integrated combat systems as “world-leading,” using high-profile showcases—such as the much-hyped military parade in September 2025—to project confidence at home and deterrence abroad.
In that vein, Yu said, “anti-stealth” detection is a headline capability meant to signal that China can threaten U.S. airpower. But what happened in Caracas cut straight through that messaging.
Yu also pointed to reports that a Chinese delegation visited Venezuela just hours before Maduro’s capture, further spotlighting how closely Beijing and Caracas have aligned.
Corruption, Command Liabilities
Yu said corruption and “black-box” decision-making have weakened Chinese military readiness, partly because bad news gets filtered upward and procurement incentives reward appearances. He pointed to recent corruption probes in China’s military-industrial complex and scandals that have raised questions about quality control and readiness.
In a closed system, he said, procurement decisions often happen behind doors, with limited independent oversight and strong incentives to hide failure.
Beijing’s “military-civil fusion” model can intensify those risks, Yu said. Profit-driven contractors pay bribes to obtain contracts, substitute inferior components, and still meet paperwork requirements as long as money moves and reporting looks clean.
Even if individual platforms are capable, he said, the system around them—maintenance, training realism, logistics honesty—can be hollowed out.
He contrasted that with what he described as Washington’s preference for letting battlefield results speak louder than slogans.
Yu also said integration and command speed often decide outcomes faster than platform specs.
The U.S. advantage, he said, is not just technology—it’s integration and delegation. Once a mission is approved, U.S. operations are designed to push authority downward, giving frontline commanders room to adjust in seconds.
China’s command system, he said, is the opposite: rigidly centralized and politically constrained.
“No matter how advanced the equipment,” Yu said, “it still has to wait for orders from the highest authority.”
Centralization is a built-in lag, he said, which is costly in a fight in which delays are punished instantly.
Yu said he believes that Washington’s decision to capture Maduro was meant to send a message well beyond Caracas: to Beijing, to pro-China and anti-U.S. governments, such as Cuba and Iran, and to other Latin American capitals weighing closer ties with China.
He framed the move as a hard-edged application of the Monroe Doctrine under Trump’s second-term national security approach—prioritizing U.S. security in the Western Hemisphere and working to block Beijing-aligned influence from taking root further in Central and South America.
“Venezuela may only be the first domino,” Yu said. “Pro-Beijing regimes across Latin America will face growing pressure to choose sides.”
Cheng Mulan and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
If we were in Ukraine, we’d figure out some way to go over or around the current line of control. We have options no other military in the world has.
BTW I’m not saying we should be in Ukraine. Without going into particulars, I’m o.k, with a negotiated settlement about the current line of control. My main concerns are the sovereignty of Ukraine (whatever its borders) and that the Europeans should bear the primary responsibility for Europe.
Winning is its own validation. We won. We got into their country, grabbed their dictator and made off with him. Their radar systems didn’t prevent any of this, let alone a single aircraft shot down.
My first military posting was at NORAD Cheyenne Mountain.
What the Soviets had pointing at us, and their overwhelming order of battle in Eastern Europe, was truly a menace.
It sometimes still amazes me to remember how it all came crashing down in 1991.
Saw another report where China did a long range control of skies kind of thing, but with usual stupidity showed videos of loaded aircraft and bombers but Japanese were monitoring and showed the bombers slick, fighters with only two AA missiles and “escort” aircraft were actually two different sets of aircraft one took the bombers so far and another went out to escort them back
As always, you express your gross ignorance of events beyond the perimeter of the rock you live under
Good points!
*THE* question for me is “Did they just not work? Were they sabotaged? Did someone ignore the blips on the screen deliberately? Or did we HAARM them before they could be used?”
That’s the real question. If they were all online and people were monitoring the screens and they didn’t “see” our planes, (which wouldn’t surprise me mind you), then that’s the REAL punch in the mouth for China/Russia.
Well, you put the shoe on the other foot.
What evidence can you provide that China has the capability pf protecting the Pearl River heartland? of Shanghai? of vital ports?
There are several videos discussing the vulnerability of the dam. Apparently The means exist. The current news is that Chinese air defense systems failed to engage the recent successful air attacks on Venezuela.
“Then I would expect a mass firing and possibly executions in the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex in the next few weeks.”
Very possibly.
My day job is working for an Israeli military contractor. As such, I’ve been to IDEX at Abu Dhabi, World Defense Show in Riyad, and the Jakarta shows, many times. (Sometimes using my USA passport.) I’ve seen and talked with a lot of the Chinese guys. VERY arrogant and assured. Like no other. Absolutely drinking their own whiskey. This is a shock.
+++
As a complete aside, I went to one of these trade shows with a friend who had just come out of a very bad divorce. The shows are expensive to get into and he was using the badge of our boss’s boss (with said bossman’s permission, as he couldn’t go and didn’t want to waste the money).
Anyway, said friend was singled out immediately by absolute smoke show, model, beauty in the Chinse pavilion, the most obvious honey trap we’d ever seen. Way hotter than Bang-Bang.
Friend called bossman who said “go for it”, so friend “fell” for the honey trap and had an excellent three days.
Sure enough, a blackmail attempt followed to much amusement of security officials. Friend asked for copies of tapes for bragging rights, which was not the response the ChiComms were expecting.
The Chinese do a lot of reverse engineering. They are not big on taking risks in their careers so they keep their heads down and only do what they have to do. As far as innovation, the risk of something not working far outweighs the potential reward that comes from a successful innovation. Therefore they always play it safe.
When Tesla sends you a factory and trains your workers, it is fairly easy to copy the factory and move the workers, whose replacements also get trained. Next thing you know, China is building and exporting a BYD electric car that looks and drives astonishingly like a Tesla. It matches feature for feature and sells for a much lower price but is built with lower quality materials.
Ummm… yes. Rubio is well aware of this.
From the article:
All white guys look same to them..................😁
“...but Maduro people are still in charge! Communism is NOT a dictature of one. Removing one did not make a difference.
The generals and the murderous interior minister are still in charge there!”
Not to mention Venezuela’s internal security (mostly Cuban IIRC) too. There IS still quite a ways to go yet!
He still brags about the “service” he performed for his country.
Personally, I think that knowing he was being taped made him put on an unusual amount of effort.
Let’s not forget that 1) the Pakistani owned Chinese military equipment failed in their latest military skirmish with India and 2) the Iranian owned Chinese military equipment failed against the Israeli and U.S. air forces recently. So, even if it was true the Venezuelan military was told to stand down, there have been at least other two Chinese equipment failures in the past two years. I believe the problem is that Chinese radar, no matter how highly touted, is incapable of detecting advanced stealth aircraft.
All the world’s a stage..................
In a nutshell, their radar didn’t see it coming.
A gold mine. The systems may be intentionally nerfed (gamer slang for dumbed down/weakened) but the core tech is probably the same. Dismantle them all, study them all, reverse engineer it all and then have the engineers learn everything possible about them, then turn it over to smart folk with access to intel on the actual systems in use by China who can use that knowledge to determine the likely capabilities of the real systems.
One must be able to get his dumb bombs over the target.
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