A pleasant hearth incident within the Red Sea this previous weekend that noticed a U.S. Navy Ticonderoga class cruiser down an F/A-18F Super Hornet got here as jets have been returning to the supercarrier USS Harry S. Truman, TWZ has realized. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group had additionally been heading off a sustained Houthi drone and missile assault main as much as the pleasant hearth incident. You can learn extra about what is understood about this incident in our earlier reporting right here.
“After efficiently getting back from its preliminary mission, an F/A-18F launched once more to supply air protection help from OWAs and ASCMs that have been inbound to the pressure,” a U.S. official instructed us. “They have been shot down whereas restoration of remaining plane was underway.”
The F/A-18F was formally downed early on December 22 native time by a missile from the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Gettysburg. Aircraft from the Harry S. Truman‘s air wing had additionally struck Houthi targets in Yemen on the evening of December 21-22.
“In the hours main as much as the incident, although, the [Truman] CSG [Carrier Strike Group] had efficiently shot down two anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) and two one-way assault uncrewed aerial automobiles (OWA UAV) with studies of different OWA UAVs within the air,” the official added. “The wreckage has not been situated and is probably going on the backside of the Red Sea. Both crew members have been efficiently recovered and are again on the USS Harry S. Truman. Initial studies are that one of many crew members has minor accidents. Both have been evaluated and launched from medical.”
Earlier at this time, Naval Air Force Atlantic (AIRLANT) individually instructed us that the two-seat Super Hornet had been “performing a refueling mission” on the time of the pleasant hearth incident. We had already reached out for extra clarification on what precisely the jet’s mission had been. Whether or not the jet was offering “air protection help” or if it was in a tanker configuration primarily to help the jets offering air protection help on the time is unclear. As TWZ famous earlier, F/A-18Fs do frequently present aerial refueling help for different plane in Navy service air wings.
There are additionally rumors that one other Navy jet was fired upon and virtually by chance shot down throughout the restoration course of aboard the ship, as nicely, however TWZ has not been capable of verify that right now.
In feedback to us tonight, the U.S. official did stress that “an investigation is underway to find out the info and circumstances” surrounding the pleasant hearth incident. Many questions stay about how and why the crew of the USS Gettysburg, probably the most superior Ticonderoga class cruiser in operational service at current, which returned to the fleet final yr with a slew of main upgrades to its air and missile protection suite and different methods, mistakenly shot down the F/A-18F. The incontrovertible fact that this seems to have occurred throughout restoration is much more puzzling.
Regardless, the small print as we perceive them now underscore the complexities of the present working setting that U.S. forces are dealing with in and across the Red Sea. As TWZ wrote earlier:
“The Red Sea is a particularly high-threat setting with a number of layers of threats, a few of which may be very arduous to detect and categorize. The Houthis are actively concentrating on American warships, in addition to industrial vessels, with numerous aerial drones, cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, and unmanned floor vessels, typically concurrently. The out there time by which to make probably severe choices may be measured in seconds.”
If nothing else, fortunately each aviators onboard the downed F/A-18F, who’ve now been launched from medical, didn’t endure any severe accidents or worse.
Contact the creator: joe@twz.com
