Two US Navy pilots shot down in friendly fire incident

Two US Navy pilots have been shot down over the Red Sea in an apparent "friendly fire" incident, the US military says, with both pilots surviving.

Both were rescued, one with minor injuries, and the incident is being investigated, US Central Command said in a statement.

The fighter was an F/A-18 Hornet flying off the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman and had fired on Houthi drones and missiles over the Red Sea on Saturday, as well as attacking command-and-control and missile storage sites in Sanaa.

One of the carrier's escort ships, the missile cruiser Gettysburg, "mistakenly fired on and hit" the plane, the statement said.

The Red Sea has been a hotbed of military activity for more than a year as US forces battle Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia, which has carried out attacks against shipping in the region.

On December 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

"The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18," Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the "Red Rippers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels.

Since the Truman's arrival, the US has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area.

However, the presence of a US warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, US warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a "missile storage facility" and a "command-and-control facility," without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis did not acknowledge the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn't distinguish between combatants and civilians.

with Reuters