The Narco Submarine was actually a low-profile vessel (LPV). It is relatively fast and hard to detect but the military-grade sensors on U.S. Navy aircraft and warships reduce the odds of them completing their voyage. H I Sutton (Photo USCG)
Forbes: Navy Makes Important Narco Submarine Capture
The narco-submarine may not have been expecting a guided missile destroyer to be bearing down on it. Until April this year, U.S. Navy warships were less often involved in drug submarine busts on the high seas. But the Trump administration’s new enhanced counter-narcotics operations has changed that, as a narco-sub found out on May 14. This may mark the start of a new age in narco-submarine interdiction.
Despite its inherent stealthiness the vessel was detected by a P-8 Poseidon from the VP-26 ‘Tridents’ squadron of the U.S. Navy. A destroyer, USS Pinckney, with a U.S. Coast Guard team aboard, then moved into position to intercept it. The destroyer’s SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters and fast boats made the interdiction. This was the first reported narco-sub seizure since President Trump announced 'enhanced counter-narcotics operations' on April 1.
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WNU Editor: The U.S. will need to do more than intercepting a few narco-subs here and there to make a difference in the drug trade.