Andrew White: SAS veteran details why Delta Force’s actions in Caracas to capture Maduro were so remarkable

The coordination required for an operation of this scale is difficult to overstate.

It demands sustained tri-service planning, continuous intelligence refinement, and months of dedicated rehearsals across air, ground, and command elements.

These are not generic preparations. They are tightly scripted sequences designed to function in total darkness, under extreme time pressure, and with no tolerance for error once forces are committed.

From an operational perspective, once intelligence confirms the target is actionable, the defining challenge is integration. Conducting kinetic strikes with more than 150 aircraft in the sky, while simultaneously inserting a squadron-sized element of Delta Force by helicopter requires absolute synchronisation.

Airspace control, timing windows, suppression of response forces and precision navigation must align exactly. Any deviation risks fratricide, loss of surprise, or isolation of the ground force, outcomes that rapidly decrease the chances of mission success.

Delivering an assault force onto a heavily fortified objective, intercepting Nicolás Maduro before he can reach a hardened shelter and extracting him under control while sustaining only minor injuries represents an exceptional military achievement.

The difficulty is not the assault itself, but executing every component in the correct sequence, at the correct moment, in a contested environment where the target is actively attempting to evade capture.

What this demonstrates is not audacity, but discipline. The United States learned this lesson painfully during Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980, when fragmented command structures and poor inter-service coordination caused the mission (to rescue American hostages) to collapse before contact with Iranian forces.

That failure became the catalyst for deep institutional reform, driving the creation of unified command arrangements, specialised aviation units, and an operational culture built around integration rather than separation.

Reforms that were stress-tested over two decades of sustained operations during the Global War on Terror in the Middle East, where complex air-ground integration, time-sensitive targeting, and politically constrained missions became routine. The result was a level of joint competence that remains rare.

Only a small number of states possess the political authority, capability, and institutional depth to contemplate an operation of this scale. It requires political will at the highest level, the ability to integrate intelligence, aviation, and ground forces across services, and an organisation capable of planning, rehearsing, and executing under extreme secrecy and risk.

Commands such as Joint Special Operations Command exist to operate precisely in this space, translating national intent into action without margin for failure.

That convergence of political resolve, specialised assets and hard-won experience explains why missions of this nature remain exceptional and are undertaken only when no lower-risk alternative exists.

From a purely military perspective, it is difficult to identify another state with the capability to execute an operation of that scale and complexity.

The level of coordination, integration, and execution required was exceptional. Whether the operation was lawful or justified is a matter for international law and political judgement. Militarily, however, it was a remarkable feat.

Andrew White was a sergeant in the Special Air Service Regiment who deployed with Delta Force in the Middle East in 2020 and was sent to Afghanistan four times.