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Another F/A-18 fighter jet fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, the second time a plane has been lost at sea over the past month.
Tuesday’s incident is the latest mishap on the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the U.S. against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
As the F/A-18 fighter jet came in for a landing, the arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to fall overboard, according to multiple reports. A defense official familiar with the incident said both the jet’s pilot and the weapons systems officer were forced to eject.
The service members were recovered by a rescue helicopter shortly after, with both sustaining minor injuries. The jet has yet to be recovered.
The “arrestment” is the hook system used by aircraft landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck. It is unclear what part of the system failed.
The Washington Times has contacted the Navy for confirmation on what caused the loss.
Tuesday’s incident is the second time in the past month that an F/A-18 fighter jet has fallen off the USS Harry S. Truman. Late last month, while making a hard turn to avoid rocket fire from Houthi rebels, another F/A-18 jet careened overboard with its trailer and has not been retrieved.
The losses are expensive, with each jet costing the Navy more than $60 million to produce.
The Truman has come under fire repeatedly from Houthi rockets since the U.S. restarted its bombing campaign against the rebels in March. Since they began their attack in late 2023, the Houthis have targeted U.S. warships nearly 200 times.
In another incident in December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 after ships shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Both aviators in that incident also survived.
And in February, the Truman collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt.
The Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, has seen its deployment extended multiple times amid the Houthi airstrike campaign. It had been joined recently by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier operating out of the Arabian Sea.
The U.S. strikes against the Houthis could be put on hold, following President Trump’s pledge Tuesday to stop all U.S. strikes on Yemen. During an Oval Office meeting with the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mr. Trump said Houthi leaders had agreed to stop targeting ships in the Red Sea, a claim backed up by Oman’s foreign minister — though not the Houthis.
“They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” Mr. Trump said.
The Houthis have been waging missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the Red Sea in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.
• This article is based in part on wire-service reports.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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