A Navy fighter jet fell overboard Monday when the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier veered to avoid fire from the Houthis, according to two defense officials.
The military was using the $60 million jet as part of its weekslong campaign against Houthi fighters in Yemen, who have attacked commercial and military shipping in the waterway for the past two years.
The aircraft’s loss adds to the growing price tag in the effort against the Houthis, which has included seven MQ-9 drones shot down by the group over the past several weeks. The Houthis have brought down more than a dozen of the surveillance drones since October 2023, when they began attacking ships in the Red Sea to, as they said, help Hamas in its war with Stop the genocide committed by Israel. They cost more than $20 million each.
An actual A2A kill with a Shahed on an F18 would be way bigger news. As would a hit on the carrier. What else could be the way it happened?
There have been previous reports of aircraft carriers “hitting a rock” and having to go for repairs.
Maybe it is true. But the US no doubt would like to keep up the illusion that it can intercept all missiles with easy and its personell is in no danger.
Remember how the Biden admin kept a US soldier dying to the “Gaza pier” secret for a long time.