US Navy pilots eject jet into Red Sea in friendly fire incident
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US Navy pilots eject jet into Red Sea in friendly fire incident

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

Topline

A US missile cruiser shot down a Navy fighter jet in a friendly fire incident over the Red Sea on Sunday, after the US military increased its presence in the Red Sea to fight back against Iran-backed Houthi rebels to set in Yemen.

Important facts

According to military officials cited in multiple reports, two Marine pilots were safely ejected from their F/A-18 into the Red Sea, one of whom suffered minor injuries.

The USS Gettysburg “erroneously fired at the jet” shortly after it took off from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, the US military’s Central Command said.

According to the military’s description, the downed jet was reportedly a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

Central Command did not elaborate on how the mix-up occurred, but said that the U.S. military had previously shot down several Houthi drones and a rebel anti-ship cruise missile, and that in the past sailors had had only seconds to make decisions about how to respond to Houthi attacks.

Important background

The US military carried out attacks in Sanaa, Yemen, and around the port city of Hodeida on Saturday night and early Sunday. The attacks in Sanaa reportedly targeted a “missile depot” and a “command and control facility.” The Houthis have increased their attacks on ships in the Red Sea during the Israel-Hamas war and claim they are targeting ships linked to the US, UK or Israel, although some of the ships have no connection to the Israel-Hamas have conflict. The Houthis have captured at least one ship and sunk two others, including a Belize-flagged ship off the coast of Yemen in March.

Further reading

Who are the Houthis? Yemen group behind Red Sea attacks are Hamas allies (Forbes)

USS Mason shoots down Houthi drone amid escalating Red Sea conflict (Forbes)

Ship sinks after Houthi attack – a first in a conflict (Forbes)

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