The United States reportedly destroyed a Russian-made Buk-M2E air defense system that had been deployed to protect La Carlota Air Base in Caracas, Venezuela.
The information gained attention after an image was published on a Telegram channel linked to the Turkish edition of Clash Report.
The Buk-M2E is one of the main components of Venezuela’s air defense network. Each unit employs 9M317E missiles and is capable of simultaneously engaging up to 24 targets at ranges of up to 20 km. The configuration used by Venezuela includes a command post, surveillance radar, and a launcher mounted on an MZKT-69221 chassis with 6×6 traction.
In recent months, Caracas had been reinforcing its air defenses, including the redeployment of Buk-M2E systems, in response to demonstration flights carried out by US bombers near the country’s coastline.
In addition to the capital, similar equipment had also been positioned in La Guaira, a coastal city north of Caracas.
Source: Militarnyi | Photo: Telegram – ClashReport | This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team
It goes without saying that the Russian-made air defense assets around Caracas, Venezuela, completely failed to do their job.
Neither the 9K317M2 Buk-M2E – pictured here – nor the S-300VM respectively Pantsir-S1 could stop the US operation and were neutralized by US forces. pic.twitter.com/tpZo1uBddL
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) January 3, 2026
