US Navy shoots down own jets over Red Sea

Texas: Two United States Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter aircraft was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling ‘an apparent case of friendly fire’.

As per a press release from the US military’s Central Command one of the pilots has sustained minor injuries, reported multiple news outlets in the US.

The US Navy has been patrolling the region to combat ongoing attacks on commercial ships from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Earlier, on December 21, the military said US forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility in Yemen used by the Houthis and shot down mul-tiple uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn’t specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or mis-sile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication. How-ever, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels.

Since Truman’s arrival, the US has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw last year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II. The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.