The same night a combat aircraft from the U.S. Navy was shot down over the Red Sea, a second aircraft narrowly escaped the same fate.
An F/A-18 Super Hornet, flying a few kilometers behind the downed Hornet, was forced to take evasive action after a second surface-to-air missile was launched from the cruiser USS Gettysburg as it prepared to land on the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, a source familiar with the incident told Fox News.
A Navy official confirmed that a second SM-2 missile was fired from the USS Gettysburg and added that the Navy is investigating whether the missile targeted the second aircraft.
The Navy is also investigating whether the USS Gettysburg deactivated the guidance system of the second missile. Until now, it had not been reported that a second U.S. Navy aircraft had nearly been shot down.
The United States Central Command, responsible for leading airstrikes in the Middle East, including against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, said in a statement earlier this week regarding the «friendly fire» incident: «The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, accidentally fired and hit the F/A-18, which was flying from the USS Harry S. Truman.»
The source said this is not accurate. The F/A-18 Super Hornet was attempting to land on the Truman when it was shot down after completing an aerial refueling mission for aircraft conducting airstrikes over Yemen, the source stated.
«It was a tanker crew returning to land on the carrier about 10 miles away. They recognized the missile was guiding and evaded about three seconds before the missile hit the plane,» the source said.
The pilot and weapons systems officer ejected and were recovered by a rescue helicopter and returned to the carrier. One of them sustained «minor injuries,» according to a Centcom statement.
Neither the United States Central Command nor the Pentagon has disclosed that a second U.S. combat aircraft was targeted by the cruiser and nearly shot down as well.
On the night of the «friendly fire» incident, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X that its «forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command and control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis within Houthi-controlled territory in Sana’a, Yemen, on December 21, Yemen time.»
There have been no further strikes from Truman against the Houthis since the friendly fire incident.
Navy pilots are angered by the incident and question the training aboard the USS Gettysburg, the source said, describing it as «inadequate.»
The «friendly fire» incident occurred days after the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group arrived in the Red Sea. The December 21 strikes against the Houthis were the first carried out by the strike group since its arrival off Yemen’s coast.
The night Truman launched airstrikes against the Houthis, U.S. warships were targeted, which may have contributed to the «friendly fire» incident.
In the statement announcing the strikes, Centcom said: «During the operation [on December 21], CENTCOM forces also shot down multiple Houthi one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles (OWA UAVs) and an anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) over the Red Sea.»
