Shortly after an F/A-18 Super Hornet was accidentally shot down in a friendly fire accident over the Red Sea earlier this week, a second F/A-18 Super Hornet came within feet of also being shot down.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that the two pilots from the plane that was shot down ejected safely after their plane was “shot down in an apparent case of friendly fire.”
“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,” the statement said.
Both pilots were safely recovered from the Red Sea, CENTCOM said.
SCOOP: A second US Navy fighter jet narrowly avoided being shot down in ‘friendly fire’ incident when a second missile passed within 100 feet: source
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) December 24, 2024
Fox News reported on Tuesday that a second F/A-18 Super Hornet that was flying several miles behind the downed fighter jet “was forced to take evasive maneuvers after a second surface-to-air missile was fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg, narrowly missing the second jet by 100 feet while it prepared to land aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.”
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The U.S. Navy official who spoke to Fox News said that the fighter jet that was shot down was in the process of landing when it was shot down.
“It was a tanker crew returning to land on the carrier about 10 miles out,” the source said. “They recognized the missile was guiding and punched out about three seconds before the missile hit the jet.”
The source indicated that fighter pilots were furious over the incident and that they questioned the training on the USS Gettysburg.
