Second US Navy jet nearly shot down over Red Sea in ‘friendly fire’ incident: report

The second hornet was forced to make maneuvers in order to avoid the friendly fire that took out the first Hornet on Sunday, according to Fox News. The missile fired at the second jet, which narrowly avoided the same fate, was confirmed to have been fired off by a Naval officer. The officer added that the military is investigating to see if the missile targeted the second Hornet.

Both pilots in the first jet shot down were able to eject in time and were recovered alive after the incident with one suffering "minor injuries." The US had been conducting strikes that were "deliberate" in order to disrupt the Houthis' operations. The jet that was shot down had just taken off the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier at the time.

CENTCOM said in a statement about the jet which was shot down at the time, "The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18."

However, the source who spoke to Fox News said the statement is inaccurate, and added, "It was a tanker crew returning to land on the carrier about 10 miles out. They recognized the missile was guiding and punched out about three seconds before the missile hit the jet."

"The cruiser almost shot down two friendly jets," the source reportedly added when speaking to the outlet.