Unconfirmed accounts from two pilots, including the one shot down, described how the F/A-18F was engaged while recovering on the USS Truman and another missile was launched at a second aircraft.
As already reported, 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 were able to eject safely and were later rescued, although one sustained minor injuries.
After a week, what happened is still a matter of debate, with both official and unofficial details now emerging online. Among the unofficial details are the accounts of two pilots, the one shot down and a second one in another aircraft, which later emerged on social media.
These accounts are not confirmed by the Navy and the original posts were later removed, although they have been shared numerous times and a copy is still available online. What really happened that night is still unclear. While the investigation is still ongoing, let’s see what we know so far and how these unconfirmed accounts compare with the official details.
The pilots’ accounts
In the days after the incident, an event’s account attributed to the pilot of the downed Super Hornet emerged online. The post immediately went viral, although unconfirmed, and was later deleted. Multiple copies, however, are still available, so let’s examine it and compare it with the official details available so far.
From Figs POV (the downed tanker pilot). Got to love Naval Aviation callsigns.
From Fig’s (the jet shot down) POV:
We fly, front side tank the strikers down to a 4.7, bingo to the ship and land. Gas up again, take off again, give DCA players another 15k
Land on the second…
— Mark Lethbridge (@GrassCu56381239) December 25, 2024
According to the account, the F/A-18F was flying as a tanker and refueled the aircraft which were launched for that night’s strikes against the Houthis. After completing the task, the aircraft landed back on the carrier to refuel before launching again to support the aircraft performing Defensive Counter Air to protect the Carrier Strike Group (CSG).
Once again, the Super Hornet landed to refuel and waited on deck as the strike package recovered. After waiting for the first DCA aircraft to land, the tanker was launched again. Once airborne, drones were reported in the area and the pilot committed to engage them together with the two aircraft still on DCA task.
At the end of the engagement, the mishap Super Hornet refueled the other two aircraft and they all got cleared to return to the carrier. They were instructed to avoid the cruiser and destroyers by 15 miles.
As they were descending towards the carrier, the pilot and WSO saw a missile being launched by the USS Gettysburg, thinking it was engaging a drone. However, also reminding lectures by the Naval Fighter Weapons School’s (also known as Topgun) instructors, they soon realized the missile was targeting them as it was making corrections to go pure pursuit, pointing straight at them.
With the SM-2’s rocket motor still firing, they decided to eject a few seconds before they were hit. Then the pilot describes the ejection and its aftermath, being able to contact the Search and Rescue after solving some issues and still incredulous they were shot down by friendly fire.
While the authenticity of this account has not been officially confirmed, many of the details coincide with what has been disclosed so far by officials. Subsequently, another account emerged online, this time apparently from one of the pilots which were flying DCA when the incident happened.
The pilot mentions being launched to provide DCA for a strike, but it’s unclear if this is a reference to the strike package on its way to Yemen. The account then continues mentioning that a drone was shot down by the formation leader, before they returned to the carrier, refueled, launched again and shot down another drone.
At 02:30 Local Time the two aircraft on Combat Air Patrol and the tanker were cleared to return to the carrier. The three aircraft set up the approach, spacing five miles apart with the tanker being the first to recover. The pilot mentioning “us” referring to his own plane could imply that the other two aircraft were also F/A-18Fs.
As the aircraft were 20 miles from the carrier, the Gettysburg, which was trailing ten miles behind the USS Truman, fired the SM-2. The second pilot, as the one shot down, initially thought the missile was being launched at a drone, before realizing it was targeting the tanker.
The pilot continues recounting that the crew of the F/A-18F ejected just three seconds before their aircraft was hit by the missile. As the two remaining aircraft launched a mayday call over radio, alerting everyone about the friendly fire incident, another missile departed the USS Gettysburg.
The pilot started performing defensive maneuvers, with the aircraft descending and accelerating as quickly as possible. As they ‘fenced out’ earlier, making the aircraft safe for recovery, the pilot says they did not have countermeasures available for immediate use.
When the missile reached the apex of its trajectory before descending, the pilot started thinking about bailing out of the aircraft, but then the missile’s rocket motor seemingly burned out. Three seconds later, the missile passed within 100 feet to the left of the jet and exploded on the surface of the sea.
According to the account, the Air Wing Landing Signal Officer (“CAG paddles”) notified the Captain of the USS Truman about the friendly fire incident that just happened. In turn, the Captain then immediately ordered all ships to abort any missile they launched.
The official details
The incident happened during the early morning hours, at around 3AM Local Time, according to a Navy official. 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.
CENTCOM generically referred to F/A-18 without naming the specific variant, although the presence of two crew members implies it was a two-seat F/A-18F. U.S. officials later confirmed that the aircraft was indeed an F/A-18F. The only squadron of Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1), currently aboard the aircraft carrier, flying the F/A-18F is Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11 “Red Rippers.”
The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) moved into the CENTCOM AOR (Area Of Responsibility) “to ensure regional stability and security,” said the command. The USS Truman passed through the Suez Canal on Dec. 15, filling a month-long gap without aircraft carriers, after the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) left the area.
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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). 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.
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.
The Washington Post‘s Dan Lamothe, citing an anonymous military official familiar with the incident, reported that the USS Gettysburg used a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) to engage the Super Hornet. The SM-2 is the Navy’s primary surface-to-air weapon and is an integral part of the AEGIS Weapon System (AWS) installed aboard Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
3) Navy was assessing Sunday whether to salvage any of the downed jet, and how.
4) The two aviators are back aboard the aircraft carrier Truman with minor injuries. Those would not be uncommon after an ejection.
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) December 22, 2024
The weapon has a range of up to 90 nautical miles and an altitude reach of 65,000 feet, and is guided by inertial navigation and mid-course commands from the AWS using semi-active radar or an infrared (IR) sensor for terminal homing, depending on the variant. The SM-2 is also the weapon of choice to intercept Houthi drones and cruise missiles.
On the night between Dec. 21 and 22, CENTCOM launched Air Force and Navy assets, including F/A-18s, to conduct “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”, said the command.
“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,” read the statement released after the operation. This is another piece to the puzzle of details emerged so far.
The F/A-18F shot down was, in fact, involved in the defense, as confirmed by an unnamed U.S. official to The War Zone. Here is the statement they were provided:
“After successfully returning from its initial mission, an F/A-18F launched again to provide air defense support from OWAs and ASCMs that were inbound to the force. They were shot down while recovery of remaining aircraft was underway.
In the hours leading up to the incident, though, the CSG had successfully shot down two anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) and two one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) with reports of other OWA UAVs in the air.
The wreckage has not been located and is likely at the bottom of the Red Sea. Both crew members were successfully recovered and are back on the USS Harry S. Truman. Initial reports are that one of the crew members has minor injuries. Both have been evaluated and released from medical.”
In another statement, the Navy’s Naval Air Force Atlantic (AIRLANT) also confirmed to TWZ that the Super Hornet was indeed part of CVW-1 and added another previously undisclosed detail. “The aircraft is part of Carrier Airwing (CVW) 1 and was performing a refueling mission,” read the statement.
AIRLANT, however, did not specify the role of the jet, whether the aircraft was a receiver or a tanker. In fact, the F/A-18 is routinely also employed as tanker to support the CVW. In this role, the Super Hornet uses the so called the “five wet” configuration, with four 480 gallon external fuel tanks under the wings and a centerline hose-and-drogue “buddy” refueling pod.
Later, possibly after the accounts of the pilots emerged, a Navy official confirmed to Fox News and other outlets that a second SM-2 missile was fired from USS Gettysburg. The official also added that the Navy is investigating whether that missile was targeting the second jet.
Are the accounts accurate?
Once again, the two accounts by the pilots are not confirmed by the Navy. There are many common details between the official and the unofficial accounts.
In fact, all the accounts, including the Navy’s, agree on the fact that the aircraft shot down was an F/A-18F, flying as a tanker in support of the aircraft on CAP over the CSG. Also, all the accounts mention that drones and cruise missiles were shot down while they were approaching the carrier, although only the first pilot’s account mentions the tanker committing into the fight to help the other fighters.
Similarly, all the accounts mention that the USS Gettysburg launched a first SM-2 missile at the F/A-18F during the recovery, and then a second missile. The identity of the two jets on CAP was not disclosed, although the second pilot’s account seems to imply that they also were F/A-18Fs and they knew who was flying the tanker.
Obviously, there is no way to confirm officially what the pilots described as their reaction to the missiles’ launch and the actions in response. However, at least until that point, it seems likely that the accounts from the two pilots are authentic.
There is also the question about how these two accounts of the events emerged online. The way they were written leads to hypothesis these were messages exchanged by the two pilots with other personnel, maybe in one of the many social media channels shared by personnel on the ship or in the military, in general.
The messages were clearly later leaked and shared outside of the initial channel, making the rounds online. While the military always highlights the need to observe OPSEC (Operational SECurity), when high-profile events, like this friendly-fire incident, happen, there is always a high possibility that something is shared with the outside world.
Whether the accounts are true or not, as mentioned before, the U.S. Navy is currently investigating. Given the headlines generated by the incident and the senior officials demanding answers for what happened, it can be expected that the service will publicly release the findings of the investigation once it is complete.
