Two U.S. Navy fighter pilots shot down over Red Sea

Two Navy pilots ejected over the Red Sea early Sunday after their fighter jet was shot down in a “friendly fire” incident, the Pentagon said.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said that the American guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly fired on and hit the pilots’ F/A-18 aircraft.

The mistaken shoot-down seems to have taken place during U.S. airstrikes that targeted Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. 

The embarrassing and near-deadly incident is the latest in a string of recent military mishaps. This one could carry significant political and foreign policy ramifications, as it is likely to elevate the debate about the wisdom of continuing America’s expensive, dangerous air campaign against the Houthis.

Pentagon officials said there will be a thorough review of the incident.

“Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries. This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway,” CENTCOM said in its statement.

The CENTCOM statement on the friendly fire incident did not explicitly mention the strikes against the Houthis. But just hours earlier, the Pentagon said in a separate statement that American troops “conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility” used by the Houthis in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen.

“During the operation, CENTCOM forces also shot down multiple Houthi one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea,” CENTCOM said in its first statement on the Houthi strikes.

Those U.S. attacks included the use of F/A-18 fighter jets like the one shot down in the friendly fire incident, according to the Defense Department statements.

For nearly a year, the U.S. has led a multinational air campaign against the Houthi rebels. Those Iran-backed rebels began targeting commercial ship traffic in the Red Sea and other regional waterways shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, when another Iran-backed militant group, Hamas, launched a major terrorist attack on Israel.

Since then, the Houthis have repeatedly targeted commercial vessels, fired missiles and attack drones toward Israel, and harassed American ships in the area. Last January, two Navy SEALs were declared dead after being lost at sea during an operation to intercept Iranian weapons allegedly destined for the Houthis.

Sunday morning’s friendly fire incident is sure to raise significant questions about the U.S. operation against the Houthis, which has no explicit metrics for success or timeline for completion. One of the most immediate foreign policy questions confronting incoming President-elect Donald Trump is whether he will continue the open-ended, increasingly expensive campaign.

There are no exact figures for how much the U.S. has spent battling the Houthis, but it’s widely believed to be in the billions of dollars.

Sunday’s incident also is the latest in a line of military accidents, some with deadly consequences.

One of the most high-profile cases took place last year, when an Air Force CV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan, killing all eight service members aboard. Investigators said it resulted from a “catastrophic failure” of the troubled craft’s gearbox and the pilot’s decision not to land immediately in response to warnings in the cockpit.

Osprey flights were grounded again earlier this month after another near-crash in New Mexico. They were recently cleared to resume flights.

Also last year, an F-35 fighter jet flew unmanned for 11 minutes before it crashed in rural South Carolina after investigators said the pilot prematurely ejected from the aircraft.

In October, two Navy aviators died in a jet crash near Mount Rainier in Washington state.