Two US Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter jet was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling “an apparent case of friendly fire.”
One of the pilots was slightly injured, according to a statement from US Central Command.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, fired in error and hit the aircraft taking off from the USS Harry S. Truman, according to the press release.
USS Gettysburg
Business Feed
The army said a thorough investigation was underway.
The US Navy has been patrolling the region for more than a year to combat ongoing attacks on commercial vessels of Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
Hours earlier, the military said U.S. forces carried out precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command and control facility used by the Houthis and shot down several unmanned aerial vehicles and a missile anti-ship cruise.
This operation involved the US Air Force and US Navy and included F/A-18 aircraft.
