Super Hornet Shot Down By Friendly Fire, Crew Safe

Two naval aviators safely ejected from their F/A-18 Super Hornet when the aircraft was shot down over the Red Sea in a friendly fire accident by guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg Saturday. “Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway.”


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/super-hornet-shot-down-by-friendly-fire-crew-safe

IFF didn’t work? or Battle Jitters? or Ready, FIRE, Aim?

At the end of the day, somebody f…ed up! Been there at both ends of the game.

The flight crew are safe, that’s all that’s matters. As a follow-up, what went wrong?

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WHY is the USA shooting at airplanes?
WHY is the US shooting at airplanes that are not even a threat?

It’s a war thing, Tony.

The positive side is that there will no longer be maintenance costs for the aircraft or the missile. Promotions all round.

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Uh oh!!! Lucy’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.

Funny! I hear the very singular sound of one hand clapping.

Someone’s going to get some enhanced training, someone’s going to get transferred, and someone will probably get a promotion for all the training and transferring he’s facilitating. And the paperwork, oh, the paperwork…

Raf,
Who’s Tony?
What war are we fighting?

AJF: What war? The U.S. against Houthi rebels.

I erred while typing, there’s no Tony.

I’ve never heard of a “Houthi rebel air force” ever reported; much less that the US had declared a war with them. I guess you need it to be called “a war” so that RoE changes to where we can shoot first?

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Call it whatever fits your viewpoint, but it’s an ongoing multi-nation op attempting to protect international shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis are using missiles & suicide drones fired from adjacent Yemen targeting civilian shipping as well as the (mostly USA & Brit) ships which have been shooting them down - yes, without warning, I am sure. So far, the Houthis have sunk two civilian cargo ships, damaged a number of others & killed and injured crew members. While this might not sound like much, the disruption to Suez Canal shipping caused by the ongoing threat has been significant.

To add to what skypark said, it’s a proxy war with Iran. They are arming the Houthis, along with Hezbollah and Hamas.

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