
Exclusive: On the same night that a US Navy fighter plane was shot down over the Red Sea, a second plane nearly met the same fate. An F/A-18 Super Hornet – flying a few miles behind the downed Hornet – was forced to make evasive maneuvers after a second surface-to-air missile was fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg, narrowly missing the second plane. 100 feet as it prepared to land aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, a source familiar with the incident tells Fox News.
A Navy official confirmed that a second SM-2 missile was launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gettysburg, adding that the Navy is investigating whether this missile was targeting the second aircraft.
The Navy is also looking into whether the USS Gettysburg turned off the guidance system on the second missile. The possibility of a second US Navy aircraft being shot down has not been previously reported.
US Central Command, which is responsible for leading airstrikes in the Middle East, including against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, said in a statement about the “friendly fire” incident earlier this week: “The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg ( CG 64, part of the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, accidentally fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman. S. Harry S. Truman.”
Two US Navy pilots shot down over the Red Sea in an apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident: US Army

A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet flies over the Baltic Sea region, on June 9, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Swift)
The source said that is not true. The source said that the F/A-18 Super Hornet was trying to land on a Truman plane when it was shot down after carrying out a mid-air refueling mission for planes carrying out air strikes on Yemen.
The source said: “It was a tanker crew returning to land on the tanker about 10 miles away. They realized the missile was guided and fired about three seconds before the missile hit the plane.”
US Navy ships repel a Houthi attack in the Gulf of Aden

A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armango)
The pilot and weapons systems officer exited the aircraft, were picked up by a rescue helicopter and returned to the carrier. One of them was “slightly injured,” according to a Central Command statement.
Neither US Central Command nor the Pentagon revealed that a second US fighter plane came under fire from the cruiser and narrowly avoided being shot down as well.
The source said, “The cruiser almost shot down two friendly aircraft.”
On the night of the “friendly fire” incident, US Central Command said in a statement on the In Sanaa, Yemen, on December 21, Yemen time.

The Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg sails in the Mediterranean Sea, December 15, 2024. (AP)
There have been no further strikes against the Houthis from Truman since the friendly fire incident.
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The source said Navy aviators were angry about the incident and questioned the training aboard the USS Gettysburg, calling it “inadequate.”
The “friendly fire” incident occurred days after the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Red Sea. The strikes carried out on December 21 against the Houthis were the first for the strike group since its arrival off the coast of Yemen.
On the night that Truman launched air strikes against the Houthis, American warships came under fire, which may have contributed to the “friendly fire” incident.
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in Strike declaration statement, Central Command said: “During [Dec. 21] In the operation, US Central Command forces also shot down several Houthi one-way attack drones (OWA UAV) and an anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) over the Red Sea.