The Pentagon has spent more than six decades planning for the possibility of war with Cuba.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, OPLAN 312 and OPLAN 316 outlined a massive campaign involving air strikes, airborne assaults, amphibious landings, and as many as 120,000 American troops. In this video, we take those Cold War blueprints and rebuild them for the modern battlefield as threats and rhetoric against Cuba ramp up.
We look at the current strength of Cuba’s military, the condition of its Soviet-era tanks, fighters, air defenses, and navy, and how U.S. stealth aircraft, drones, cyber operations, special operations forces, airborne troops, Marines, and naval forces could be used in a full-scale invasion.
We also examine the role China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela might play, the suspected Chinese-linked intelligence facilities operating on Cuba, and why defeating the Cuban military could be much easier than occupying the island afterward.
00:00 – Intro
01:22 – Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and OPLANS 312 and 316
03:01 – The original plan to invade Cuba
05:59 – Cuba’s modern-day military and doctrine
11:42 – How the US would adapt the plans to today
16:14 – China’s intelligence gathering in Cuba
17:12 – The real risk with a Cuban invasion
19:42 – Channel updates
Recorded on: July 20, 2026
Written/edited by: Kyle Gunn
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