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The United States has arguably the best and most experienced combat air forces on the planet. The US has four of them, in fact: The US Air Force, as well as air forces serving the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps. The US Navy also maintains both a surface and sub-surface navy second to none. However, these facts do not mean that there are no inherent dangers to be found in combat operations, including the risk of poorly named “friendly-fire” incidents.

One of those incidents happened this past weekend when a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, the USS Gettysburg (CG-64), accidentally shot down an F/A-18 F Super Hornet over the southern Red Sea. This aircraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 11, the “Red Rippers,” operating from the USS Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. When not onboard the Truman, the Red Rippers squadron is home port based at Naval Air Station Oceana, near Norfolk, Virginia.

The Harry Truman. Public domain

America has extensive experience with guided missiles used offensively and defensively onboard ships dating back to the late 1950s, but even our latest generation of radar targeting systems and incredibly sophisticated missiles run the risk of what the military prefers to call “blue on blue” incidents, as there is nothing “friendly” about “friendly fire.”

Fortunately, the F/A-18’s ejection system was able to whisk the two crewmen safely away from the exploding missiles. Both crew members were recovered successfully. One crew member experienced minor injuries.

The aircraft involved in this blue-on-blue incident was based aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, the eighth of the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The plane had just launched on what was presumed to be yet another strike against the Houthi Rebel forces in Yemen when it was accidentally shot down. The Truman and its battle group are currently operating in the Red Sea, and have conducted several strikes against Houthi-related targets in Yemen since their recent arrival in the Southern Red Sea area.

F/A-18 Super Hornet. Public domain.

The Gettysburg is one of a fleet of escort ships that protect the Truman in what is called a Carrier Strike Group. Equipped with the advanced Aegis Combat Systems – an incredibly-sophisticated radar tracking system – the ship is designed to intercept threats aimed at the Carrier Battle Group, including attacking missiles and aircraft. Gettysburg also carries advanced ground-attack missiles, including the latest generation of Tomahawk nap-of-the-earth cruise missiles.

USS Gettysburg. Public domain.

This incident occurred during operations targeting the Houthi terror organization, a group underwritten by Iran and based in Yemen.

Since October 7, 2023, the Houthi have fired upon more than 100 ships in the Red Sea, an operation that US Navy guided-missile cruisers and guided missile destroyers operating in the Red Sea actively oppose. They are supported by US Naval aircraft operating from aircraft carriers sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, or the Arabian Sea.

That’s the good news.

USS Leyte Gulf, a Ticonderoga-class Guided Missile Cruiser. Public domain.

The bad news is that an expensive, state-of-the-art jet fighter bomber was destroyed. The most recent group of twenty Super Hornets manufactured for the US Navy cost the Navy $55.7 million dollars per aircraft, according to a Forbes report in 2023. The crew’s lives, however, are priceless. This plane, built by Boeing based on a design by McDonnell Douglas—now a subsidiary of Boeing—is, along with the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Viper, among the best Fourth Generation fighter jets in the world.

The Super Hornet is a twin-engined, supersonic air superiority fighter and ground-attack aircraft, which, Boeing accurately claims, “is able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum.” This means that, by shifting weapons and mission-specific underwing pods, the F/A-18 can provide air defense for the Carrier Strike Group or secure local air superiority over enemy targets during an attack.

The designation “F/A-18” means the aircraft can operate equally well as an air-to-air air superiority and fleet defense fighter (F) or as an air-to-surface attack aircraft (A). With the proper weapons, the F/A-18 Super Hornet can go head-to-head against anti-aircraft batteries in what, in Vietnam, was called “Wild Weasel” strikes. It can also place precision munitions on targets using guided bombs that can literally crash through the window of a target before exploding on the inside. It can also hunt and destroy deep-diving nuclear submarines or conduct over-target aerial reconnaissance before or after an attack mission. It is a remarkably efficient and effective jet fighter-bomber aircraft.

The Super Hornet could even go toe-to-toe with the Chinese combat balloons that descended on the US several years ago or the drones that have, over the past month, inundated the night skies over New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and a host of other states, including California and Nevada on the Pacific Rim.

As a note to those who would like to see the F/A-18 in action, actual Super Hornet aircraft flown by top-rated Navy flight crews were used in Top Gun: Maverick, released in 2022.

This rare blue-on-blue incident highlights the inherent danger of flying a cutting-edge jet fighter/bomber near an equally cutting-edge guided missile cruiser, a ship designed to use defensive surface-to-air missiles to protect fleets of Navy ships, and especially the Navy’s precious aircraft carriers. Guided missile cruisers and destroyers can also launch offensive surface-to-surface missiles to take out targets far beyond visual range. The relative rarity of such blue-on-blue incidents speaks well to the technological sophistication and high level of crew training that reflects the US Navy while in combat situations, but in a high-stress combat environment, friendly fire incidents will happen. A full investigation into this incident has already been launched.

The Harry S. Truman, supported by the Gettysburg and other ships in the Carrier Strike Group had earlier in the weekend conducted “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,” according to a CENTCOM statement. Sana’a is the capital of Yemen. Also attacked were areas around the port city of Hodeida, where Iranian missiles are delivered to the Houthis.

Ned Barnett is a widely-published military historian with an emphasis on combat technology from the US Civil War to the present day. He has published on Amazon Kindle ten stories and novels in the Year-One – Pacific – Aerial Combat from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal series (Amazon.com : ned barnett Year-One – Pacific – Aerial Combat from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal). He is currently updating these books to be published in trade paperback editions as well as on Kindle.

Ned served as on-camera historian for nine History Channel programs, such as “D-Day Tech” and “World War I Tech.” When not writing novels and non-fiction books – including the forthcoming book on what it takes to win a political campaign, due out in late 2025, Ned helps authors to write, publish and market, promote and sell their books. Nedbarnett51@gmail.com – 702-561-1167.