“Friendly Fire” Claims Navy Jet
F/A-18 Super Hornet
Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says
By JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.
The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said.
Thankfully both were swiftly rescued, one received minor injuries. The investigation will likely bear out this is the result of an event chain of cascading failures. The question will be how deep will it go? We have procedures and standards written in blood to prevent such incidents. In today’s Navy both are uncertain. Maintenance and training have suffered greatly on the alter of unending operations, at-sea billets go unmanned and DEI has destroyed confidence in leadership. It was just a matter of time for an incident like this to occur. Except it wasn’t the Houthis who brought down our bird.
Category: Big Navy, Middle East
