Tampa (Florida) [US], December 22 : Two US Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter aircraft was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling "an apparent case of friendly fire."
As per a press release from the US military's Central Command one of the pilots has sustained minor injuries, reported multiple news outlets in the US
The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the aircraft, that was flying off the USS Harry S Truman, according to the CENTCOM news release cited by ABC News.
The US Navy has been patrolling the region to combat ongoing attacks on commercial ships from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Earlier, on December 21, the military said US forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility in Yemen used by the Houthis and shot down multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile.
That operation involved the US Air Force and US Navy and included F/A-18 aircraft.
It said that the CENTCOM forces also shot dwon multiple Houthi one way attack unscrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.