The U.S. Navy has launched an investigation after it lost a $67 million dollar fighter jet at sea Monday while on operations in the Middle East.
The F/A-18E Super Hornet, along with the tow tractor that was pulling it, fell off the deck of the U.S.S. Harry Truman and into the Red Sea, the office of the Navy Chief of Information in Bahrain said in a statement.
One sailor suffered a minor injury but all others were accounted for and unharmed, despite crew having to quickly move out of the way of the stricken aircraft.
“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 statement said
“Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway,” it continued.
Fighter jets are often towed around the hangar deck to be parked where necessary for flight operations or other assignments.
The Navy didn’t state exactly how the plane fell into the sea, but Houthi rebels said in a statement late Monday that its forces launched several ballistic and cruise missiles towards the Truman and other U.S. warships in the region.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will persist to target and pursue the aircraft carrier and all enemy warships in the Red and Arabian Seas until the aggression against Yemen is halted,” the Houthi statement said.
The statement said the munitions were launched in retaliation to a U.S. airstrike on a prison holding African migrants, which the Houthis said Monday killed at least 68 people and wounded 47 others, and a separate strike in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital.
The Truman has frequently faced attacks from Yemeni Houthi forces in recent weeks and months, amid U.S. strikes on Houthi targets.
U.S. officials are yet to comment on the Houthi claims.
The Super Hornet plane was part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which consists of the the U.S.S. Harry Truman, nine airborne squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 1, the three guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 28, plus the Ticonderoga-class cruiser U.S.S. Gettysburg.
The Navy’s statement stressed that its air squadrons remain “fully mission capable.”
The Super Hornet, made by Boeing, has been widely used by U.S. since 2001 and each plane costs about $67 million according to the Naval Air Systems Command. It’s also used by the air forces of Australia and Kuwait.
The nuclear-powered Harry Truman is more than 1,000 feet long and holds up to 85 planes, with a flight deck measuring about 4.5 acres.
