- An F/A-18 Tremendous Hornet plane was shot down in an obvious case of pleasant fireplace, CENTCOM stated.
- The incident occurred after the missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly fired on the craft.
- Each pilots have been safely recovered, with one sustaining minor accidents, per CENTCOM.
An F/A-18 Tremendous Hornet jet was shot down in an obvious case of pleasant fireplace, CENTCOM stated in a press release late Saturday.
The incident occurred over the Purple Sea within the early hours of Sunday morning native time. The 2 US Navy pilots concerned within the incident each survived.
“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), which is a part of the USS Harry S. Truman Service Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman,” CENTCOM’s assertion reads. “Each pilots have been safely recovered. Preliminary assessments point out that one of many crew members sustained minor accidents.”
An investigation into the incident is underway.
A number of hours earlier than the incident, in a separate assertion about its operations, CENTCOM stated US Central Command forces had performed “precision airstrikes in opposition to a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis inside Houthi-controlled territory in Sana’a, Yemen.” It’s unclear if the pleasant fireplace incident was associated to these strikes or one other operation.
The Boeing-built Tremendous Hornet is a supersonic, twin-engine fighter plane “in a position to carry out just about each mission within the tactical spectrum,” in response to the producer.
The price of a brand new Tremendous Hornet craft has been rising quickly, Forbes reported final yr. The outlet reported that the final set of 20 jets was bought from Boeing for $55.7 million per plane.
CENTCOM didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
