One moment, a vessel is bobbing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The next, it erupts in a violent explosion, sending a massive plume of smoke billowing into the sky.

Dramatic military footage captures U.S. forces destroying a suspected drug-trafficking support vessel during a September 5 operation in the eastern Pacific, near Ecuador.

But this wasn’t an attack on an occupied boat.

According to U.S. Southern Command , the vessels formed a “multi-vessel floating refueling station,” allegedly supplying boats involved in smuggling narcotics across the region.

In the footage, a military inflatable approaches a larger civilian vessel lined with fuel containers. A Marine Corps helicopter hovers nearby as personnel board the boat.

Then, after everyone is evacuated, the fireworks begin.

An explosion rips through the vessel, sending smoke skyward.…