China’s newest aircraft carrier may only be able to conduct air operations at about 60% the rate of a 50-year-old US Navy carrier, two former US carrier officers say, a substantial combat limitation for a vessel meant to revolutionize Beijing’s fleet.

The Pentagon said the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group will enhance U.S. military capabilities in the Caribbean.

Both aircraft were on routine flight operations, the Navy said, when they went down in the South China Sea only 30 minutes apart.

The Navy's Pacific Fleet says a fighter jet and a helicopter based off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz both crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other.

The move would be a major escalation of the Trump administration’s military campaign to target drug smugglers and threaten governments in Latin America.

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by announcing the deployment of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America — a show of force far beyond any past counter-narcotics effort and Washington’s most assertive move in the region yet.

A U.S. helicopter and fighter jet crashed in the contested waters within an hour of one another during routine operations from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the Pacific Fleet had said. President Donald Trump later said "bad fuel" was believed to be the reason the two aircraft went down.

The aircraft had taken off from the USS Nimitz and crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other.

A helicopter and a fighter jet went down in separate incidents while operating from a U.S. aircraft carrier on Sunday, the Navy said. The crews were rescued.