The information was released in the context of Washington deploying F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in the fight against drug gangs. The 10 aircraft will join US warships already present in the southern Caribbean.
Tensions have escalated in recent days as the Pentagon said two Venezuelan fighter jets flew near a US Navy ship in international waters on September 4.
When asked on September 5 what action he would take if more incidents occurred, President Donald Trump stressed: "If they really put us in a dangerous position, they will be shot down."
Earlier this week, US forces detonated a drug ship believed to belong to the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela, killing 11 people.
US high-tech F-35s are being deployed to an airport in Puerto Rico, a US Caribbean island nation with a population of more than 3 million people, sources familiar with the matter told AFP.
This week, a US defense official said that there are currently eight US Navy ships participating in drug enforcement efforts in Latin America, including three amphibious assault ships, two axis ships, one cruiser and one coastal combat ship in the Caribbean, and one axis ship in the eastern Pacific.
Venezuela owns 15 F-16 fighter jets purchased from the US in the 1980s, along with a number of Russian-made fighter jets and helicopters.
