Illustrative image. (The U.S. Central Command)
An F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet of the United States Navy was lost after it fell into the Red Sea from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board, the Navy announced in a statement on April 28.
In a statement, the Navy said that personnel aboard are accounted for, and one sailor sustained a minor injury as a result of the incident.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy added. “Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”
A U.S. official told CNN that initial reports from the scene indicated the carrier made a hard turn to evade an attack by the Houthis (Ansar Allah), which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard.
The Super Hornet is a series of supersonic twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
The F/A-18E single-seat variant is a larger and more advanced version of the F/A-18C and D Hornet, respectively. A single fighter jet of this type cost upwards of $70 million.
The Houthis later confirmed that they were behind the attack on USS Harry S. Truman, saying in a statement that they targeted the carrier with ballistic and cruise missiles in addition to suicide drones in response to a recent wave of U.S. strikes on Yemen that claimed the lives of dozens of people.
One of the strikes hit a detention centre for African migrants in the northern province of Saada, the heartland of the Houthis, killing at least 68 people.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will continue to target and pursue the aircraft carrier and all enemy warships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the aggression against Yemen stops,” Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said, adding that the group also launched a drone attack against “a vital target” near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon in response to the war on the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. military resumed strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on March 15 on orders from President Donald Trump, who said that the large-scale operation was launched in response to the group’s renewed attacks on Israel-affiliated shipping in the Red Sea. Since then, the Houthis have been targeting USS Harry S. Truman with missiles and drones on a near-daily basis.
Weeks into the operation, the U.S. dispatched another aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, to attack the Houthis. The carrier has also come under several attacks since then.
The cost of the ongoing operation against the Houthis exceeded $1 billion in its first three weeks. The number does not likely include the price of the seven MQ-9 Reaper combat drones shot down by the Houthis since then, estimated at around $200 millions, nor the price of the F/A-18E lost at sea.
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