An F/A-18 Super Hornet jet was shot down in an apparent case of friendly fire, CENTCOM said in a statement late Saturday.
The incident occurred over the Red Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning local time. The two US Navy pilots involved in the incident both survived.
“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman,” CENTCOM’s statement reads. “Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries.”
An investigation into the incident is underway.
Several hours before the incident, in a separate statement about its operations, CENTCOM said US Central Command forces had 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.” It is unclear if the friendly fire incident was related to those strikes or another operation.
The Boeing-built Super Hornet is a supersonic, twin-engine fighter aircraft “able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum,” according to the manufacturer.
The cost of a new Super Hornet craft has been rising rapidly, Forbes reported last year. The outlet reported that the last set of 20 jets was purchased from Boeing for $55.7 million per aircraft.
CENTCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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