The Navy’s largest aircraft carrier entered the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility Tuesday after setting sail from the Mediterranean on Nov. 4, according to the Navy.

The Pentagon announced in an Oct. 24 X post that the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group would be traveling to the region in support of what the Pentagon has referred to as counternarcotics efforts in the area.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell, according to the release.

The Ford joins eight other Navy vessels in the USSOUTHCOM AOR, in

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