An extremely secretive Air Force spy drone was used in the U.S. military’s operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this month, Lockheed Martin’s CEO confirmed, marking a rare disclosure of the aircraft’s operations. James Taiclet confirmed that RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drones were part of the Jan. 3 Venezuelan mission, dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve, on a Thursday earnings call. An Air Force spokesperson did not confirm the use of the RQ-170 in the Venezuela operation and pointed to Caine’s earlier comments. In 2021, the 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada briefly mentioned the unit had “successfully deployed and redeployed RQ-170 Sentinel forces” in a news release. While the use of the surveillance drone in the Venezuela operations was not surprising to some Air Force analysts, one expert said the disclosure of the mission from Lockheed Martin was abnormal.