The U.S. military is conducting a “full investigation” into how the USS Gettysburg accidentally shot down a U.S. aircraft over the Red Sea in the early morning on Sunday.
The pilot and weapons officer safely ejected themselves from their F/A-18 aircraft, though one of them sustained minor injuries, according to a short release from U.S. Central Command.
“This incident was not the result of hostile fire,” it said. “And a full investigation is underway.”
The F/A-18 conducted its initial mission, returned to the USS Harry S. Truman, and then took off again "to provide air defense support" from incoming drones and anti-ship cruise missiles when it was fired upon by the USS Gettysburg, according to a U.S. defense official.
Hours before, U.S. forces conducted “precision airstrikes” against a Houthi missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility in Sana’a, CENTCOM said. During the operation, the United States shot down multiple one-way attack drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.
The downed fighter jet has not been located and is "likely at the bottom of the Red Sea," according to the defense official.
It’s unclear how the USS Gettysburg could mistake the U.S. aircraft for an enemy aircraft, incoming drone, or missile.
CENTCOM said on Dec. 15 that the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group had entered its area of responsibility, which includes Yemen and the surrounding waterways.
“DoD informed the House Armed Services Committee of the incident," a committee spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. "The Committee is seeking answers from the Department to understand what happened and what will be done to prevent this from occurring again.”
The Houthis have fired hundreds of missiles and drones toward ships navigating the area off the coasts, the Gulf of Aden, through the Bab al Mandab Strait, into the Red Sea, and the group has fired hundreds of them at Israel, though they have not used aircraft in any of these attacks.
U.S. forces have increased the frequency of their airstrikes targeting the Houthis in recent weeks.
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Houthi militants have fired at more than a hundred vessels over the last year, sinking two of them, capturing one and kidnapping the crew, and killing four civilian sailors. These attacks, despite a U.S.-led international effort to provide safe passage to commercial vessels, have greatly limited the amount of shipping that goes through the Red Sea.
Israel's military has also carried out airstrikes against the Houthis in response to continued attacks. More than a dozen people were injured by flying glass in Tel Aviv on Saturday after Israeli air defenses failed to intercept a Houthi-fired missile.