[BroJoeK]

"F/A-18F Was Shot Down by Friendly Fire as Jets Were About to Land on The Carrier The friendly fire incident also came amid a sustained Houthi drone and missile attack targeting the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group."

There is new information on the Truman's friendly fire F-18 downing:

1. It was certainly friendly fire from the USS Gettysburg, not Houthis.

2. It happened around 3:00 AM during the final landing approach of F-18s from a mission over Yemen.

3. The simplest explanation is, there was a failure of the F-18s' IFF (identify friend or foe) system signals.

4. There were many Houthi drones & missiles aimed at the Truman, which were being shot down by Gettysburg.

5. Somehow, Gettysburg -- perhaps on "automatic" mode? -- mistook the landing F-18s for Houthi drones.

6. Gettysburg fired two anti-aircraft missiles at two approaching F-18s.

7. The first missile hit the first F-18 lined up to land on the Truman, the crew ejected just barely in time.

8. The result was a gigantic "W.T.F.!!!" which may have jolted the Gettysburg's missile operator to hit the second missile's "abort" button just in time to prevent it from hitting the second F-18.

None of this is official -- all is just highly educated speculation, but to me sounds right on the money.

Carrier night landing -- Gettysburg missile launch:

[FtrPilot]

While anything is possible in the "Fog of War" scenario, I believe the most likely scenario is:

The Houthi's do have a Surface-to-Air capability.

The Houthis shot at the F-18s and damaged one of the F-18 aircraft.

The F-18s returned to the carrier, and performed a "controlability check" to determine the slowest airspeed he could control the aircraft.

That airspeed was determined to be too fast to land safely on the carrier.

The pilots performed a controlled bail out and were picked up by SAR helicopter.

In a combat scenario, the returning aircraft would fly specific routes to and from the carrier.

There would be specific routes for no radios (NORDO) or no IFF.

Entering carrier controlled airspace, the F-18s would make radio contact and would be told to squawk certain codes for ID.

If IFF could not be confirmed (IFF out), the pilot would then fly the IFF out flight route. He would be vectored for a Carrier Controlled Approach (CCA).

Another option would be to fly close formation on the F-18 that had a good IFF.

All the above is speculation. However, IMHO "battle damage" is more likely than "friendly fire".

Thanks for the ping.