Two US Navy pilots riding a fighter jet were mistakenly shot down in a ‘friendly fire, incident over the Red Sea, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday.
Both the pilots were rescued alive after ejective from the F/A-18F Super Hornet in an “apparent case of friendly fire”, marking it the most serious incident to threaten troops in more than a year of the country targeting Yemen’s Houthis.
The Super Hornet was flying over the Red Sea when guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg fired upon it, according to the CENTCOM statement. The jet had just flown off the deck of the aircraft carrier when the friendly fire incident occurred.
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The two-seater F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet was assigned to the “Red Rippers” of strike fighter quadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia.
“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,” the US military statement said.
“Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries,” a CENTCOM statement said.
The two pilots survived after ejecting from the Super Hornet, however, one sustained minor injuries in the incident. “This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway,” the statement added.
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The incident occurred around 3 am (local time) on Sunday as the Super Hornet was assigned to Carrier Air Wing One and embarked aboard Truman, according to a report in the USNI News.
The incident comes at a time when the US military said it had launched airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Houthis, who have been carrying out attacks against commercial shipping in the region. The US forces over the weekend attacked the Yemeni capital of Sanna striking a missile storage facility and a command and control node.
