On Sunday, a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet flying off the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea was shot down by friendly fire; see ‘Friendly Fire’ in the Skies Over the Red Sea Brings Down US F-18 Super Hornet. The aircraft, part of the “Red Rippers” of VFA-11, was about ten miles from the Truman on a final landing approach, having completed its mission of refueling a recently launched flight. The aircrew was alerted to an incoming missile and ejected before impact. The missile was an SM-2 surface-to-air weapon fired from the Aegis-equipped guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG64), the defensive center of the Truman carrier strike group.
What was already a disturbing picture became much more horrifying when it was revealed Tuesday that a second F/A-18 Super Hornet narrowly escaped the same fate.
On the same night a U.S. Navy fighter jet was shot down over…
