US shoots down its own F-18 fighter jet in ‘friendly fire’ over Red Sea

The US military said it mistakenly shot down one of its own fighter aircraft over the Red Sea early on Sunday, forcing both pilots to eject.

Both were rescued, one with minor injuries, after the “apparent case of friendly fire,” which is being investigated, US Central Command said in a statement.

The fighter was a F/A-18 Hornet flying off the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman. One of the carrier’s escort ships, the missile cruiser Gettysburg, “mistakenly fired on and hit” the plane, the statement said.

The Red Sea has been a hotbed of military activity for more than a year as US forces battle Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, which has carried out attacks against shipping in the region.

The US military said it had fired on Houthi drones and missiles over the Red Sea on Saturday, and had attacked command-and-control and missile storage sites in Sanaa.