Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific on April 11, killing five people and leaving one survivor whose status remains unknown, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced Sunday.
Applying total systemic friction on the cartels.
On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence… pic.twitter.com/sRXTFYCWXu
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 12, 2026
Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, directed both strikes. Two men were killed in the first engagement, with a third surviving. Three men were killed in the second. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue for the survivor.
As of Monday, the Coast Guard had not provided a status update.
The outcome follows a pattern documented across the campaign. A March 20 strike left three initial survivors, but the Coast Guard later confirmed two had died and one had been repatriated to Costa Rica, according to Costa Rican authorities.
The Coast Guard suspended a separate search for a survivor from a January 26 strike without recovering the individual. SOUTHCOM has not established a public reporting system for post-strike survivor outcomes.
The April 11 strikes were the 48th and 49th since the campaign launched September 1, 2025. At least 168 people have been killed across those operations, according to USNI News data.
The strikes come as the Navy’s top officer is pushing to scale back the carrier presence used to support them.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said March 31 at the Maritime Security Dialogue that SOUTHCOM does not need a carrier for maritime interdiction, and that he wants to reserve carrier strike groups “for power projection and deterrence in the theaters that need that kind of capability.”
Caudle confirmed that USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is on track to set the longest post-Vietnam War carrier deployment record.
SOFX previously reported that Gen. Donovan himself described the boat strike campaign as ineffective in congressional testimony.
