U.S. Super Hornet Shot Down in Friendly Fire Over Red Sea

Aircrew members ejected safely and were rescued after a U.S. Navy F/A-18F from the USS Truman was shot down in a friendly fire incident.

On Dec. 22, 2024, an F/A-18F Super Hornet, embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman, was shot down in what the U.S. Central Command called “an apparent case of friendly fire”. The two aircrew members ejected safely and were rescued. One of the pilots sustained minor injuries. A Navy official told USNI News that the friendly fire incident happened around 3AM Local Time on Sunday.

Here’s the full statement released by CENTCOM:

Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea during the early morning hours of December 22 when their F/A-18 fighter aircraft 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.

Both pilots were safely recovered. Initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries. This incident was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway.

While CENTCOM’s statement didn’t name the specific squadron, the fact that the crew members aboard the jet were two implies that the aircraft was a two-seat Super Hornet. The only squadron of CVW-1 flying the F/A-18F is is the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, based out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) moved into the CENTCOM AOR (Area Of Responsibility), “to ensure regional stability and security” and filling a month-long gap in the region’s naval presence, after passing through the Suez Canal Dec. 15. The Truman Carrier Strike Group includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) and the destroyers USS Stout (DDG-55) and USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109).

USS Gettysburg is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser which serves as the strike group’s air defense commander, responsible for detecting and neutralizing threats to the carrier and its escorts. It is equipped with 2 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems and it can fire a variety of missiles designed to counter different types of threats. At the moment, what weapon was used in this particular incident has not been disclosed.

The strike group is currently part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a U.S.-led mission launched in December and involving UK and 12 other nations, to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks. Over time, other strike groups and U.S. guided-missile warships have intercepted numerous drones, cruise missiles, and even ballistic missiles as part of this ongoing mission.

On Dec. 21, CENTCOM its forces, including F/A-18s, conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces 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, on Dec. 21 Yemen time.

CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.

During the operation, CENTCOM forces also shot down multiple Houthi one way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and an anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) over the Red Sea.

The operation involved U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy assets, including F/A-18s.

The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners, and international shipping.

Other notable friendly fire incidents

The latest one is obviously not the first time a U.S. military aircraft is shot down as a consequence of friendly fire. Here are a couple of famous incidents:

The 1994 Black Hawk shootdown, often called the Black Hawk Incident, was a tragic friendly fire event over  (OPC).

On April 14, 1994, during Operation Provide Comfort (OPC), over northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle jets, under the control of an airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, mistakenly identified two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as Iraqi Mil Mi-24 “Hind” gunships. The F-15 pilots fired on and destroyed the helicopters, killing all 26 people onboard, including U.S., UK, French, Turkish, and Kurdish personnel.

A subsequent investigation by the Air Force pointed to multiple failures: the F-15 pilots were criticized for the misidentification of the helicopters, while the AWACS crew was at fault for not intervening or maintaining proper control. Additionally, the helicopters’ IFF systems didn’t work as intended, and U.S. Army helicopter operations were poorly integrated into OPC air operations. Several Air Force officers received administrative penalties, but only AWACS crew member Jim Wang faced a court-martial, where he was acquitted.

Another notable incident occurred on Apr. 2, 2003, near Karbala, Iraq, as two F/A-18s were returning to the USS Kitty Hawk.

A Patriot battery misclassified the aircraft’s radar signature as an Iraqi missile and alerted the Information Coordination Center, which then labeled the flight path as a hostile missile track. Shortly after, a second Patriot battery also detected the plane and reached the same mistaken conclusion, believing it and nearby U.S. forces were under attack. The combined reports strengthened the belief among operators that they were tracking a legitimate threat, and the command center ultimately authorized the launch of two missiles, which brought down the Hornet, killing of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Nathan White. While no disciplinary action was taken against the personnel involved, the investigation attributed the error to a series of misjudgments rather than negligence.

This was one of two similar incidents involving Patriot systems during the campaign.

On Mar. 22, 2003, a British Tornado GR4 (registration ZG710) was shot down by a U.S. Patriot battery near the Iraq-Kuwait border, killing both crew members, Flight Lieutenant Kevin Main, the pilot, and Flt Lt David Williams, the navigator. The aircraft was mistakenly identified as an Iraqi Anti-Radiation missile.

The investigation found that the aircraft’s IFF system, which had passed pre-flight checks, stopped working mid-flight. This issue was traced to a malfunction in the transponder’s power system, which also prevented the cockpit warning light from notifying the crew about the failure. Moreover, the U.S. Patriot missile crew, who had only been in Kuwait for a month, were operating without their standard equipment. They were on heightened alert after a grenade attack at another base that same night and were relying on a single radio link to communicate with their battalion headquarters limiting their situational awareness as the Tornado, returning from a bomb mission, began its descent returning to its base.

When the Tornado’s IFF failed to respond, the system automatically flagged it as an incoming Iraqi missile, leading to the fatal mistake.

The Patriot system identifies hostile missiles through their flight profile and other characteristics, including the lack of an IFF response. The criteria programmed into the Patriot computer were based on the many different AntiRadiation Missiles available worldwide, and were therefore very broad. ZG710’s flight profile met these criteria as it commenced its descent into Ali Al Salem. The Board considered that the criteria should have been much tauter, based on the known threat from Iraq, and concluded that the generic AntiRadiation Missile classification criteria programmed into the Patriot computer were a contributory factor in the accident.