U.S. Navy Loses Third F-18E/F Super Hornet Fighter During Yemeni Air Campaign
Middle East , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
The U.S. Navy has lost a second F-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft in little over a week according to a report by CNN citing four individuals familiar with the matter. The fighter was lost while taking part in the ongoing air campaign against the Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition, and operating as part of the air wing of the supercarrier USS Harry Truman. An investigation into the loss is ongoing, with two sources claiming that there was an arrestment failure as the jet was trying to land on the carrier, forcing the pilot and weapons systems officer to eject and suffer minor injuries. The Ansurullah Coalition was on April 28 confirmed to have come close to striking the Harry Truman in a ballistic missile attack, forcing the ship to turn hard to evade fire, which resulted in an F-18E/F falling overboard. The first of the three lost F-18s was destroyed in December, with the Ansurullah Coalition claiming to have brought it down, while the U.S. Navy claimed the fighter was shot down by friendly fire. A number of sources have speculated that the consistent attributing of fighter losses to accidents has represented part of a coverup to conceal the extent of losses to Yemeni air defences, although evidence of this has yet to be presented.
The Ansurullah Coalition has continued to surpass Western expectations in the levels of resistance it has been able to pose, with its forces have sustained missile attacks both against Western warships and against Israeli ground targets, while also sustaining an air defence capability and continuing to shoot down MQ-9 Reaper drones that operate closer to their airspace. Over 20 MQ-9s have been shot down since hostilities escalated in October 2023. The Yemeni armed group launched a successful ballistic missile attack on Israel on May 4, evading multiple layers of Israeli air defences and striking near Ben Gurion Airport, which caused the cancellation of several flights.
wakakakaka…
ReplyDeleteUSofA needs to face up to the reality that many, if not most, of its overblown weapons are, in actual performance nowhere near their heavily-boasted paper capabilities....
Houthis has already exposed that clearly in taking out numerous Yankee weapons systems.