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> This happens everywhere, just the other day an American F-18 was shot down by an American destroyer in the Red Sea, and an F-18 carries additional econflicti
by Qem 2y ago
> This happens everywhere, just the other day an American F-18 was shot down by an American destroyer in the Red Sea, and an F-18 carries additional econfliction equipment that an airliner doesn't have.
The Houthis claim the F-18 was downed by them[1], so it's still not clear if this was an actual friendly fire incident. This is consistent with reports the carrier retreated to northern red sea soon after the incident.
[1] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241222-yemens-houthis-claim-to-down-us-fighter-jet-over-red-sea/ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241222-yemens-houthis-cl...
- amenhotep 2y agoNo, it's pretty clear.
- medo-bear 2y agoIt is as clear as this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
- mapt 2y agoThat depends on whether you trust the Houthis or the US Navy's sheepish apology for shooting at two F-18s (one missed), which will almost certainly have career consequences for somebody.
- Qem 2y ago[flagged]
- jvanderbot 2y agoYes, they can down aircraft flying over their territory. But downing an American aircraft right next to its fleet, shortly after takeoff, is not something I would imagine they could do.
- tptacek 2y agoHave they ever before? They claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 back in 2018, and even that was debunked.
- Spooky23 2y agoPretty unusual for a military org to cop to gross incompetence when enemy fires are a plausible explanation.
- hilux 2y agoFor the US Navy, admitting a friendly fire shootdown has got to be the most embarrassing thing imaginable. So, yes, I do believe them.
- boomboomsubban 2y agoReally? I feel like "Iran shot down a US Navy jet" is more embarrassing than "the US shot down a US Navy jet." Not for the pilots responsible, but for the Navy as a whole. I don't have any insight on this particular story though.
- burnerthrow008 2y agoWhy would that be embarrassing? No aircraft is invulnerable, especially not conventional (non-stealth) aircraft. I don’t think there is any general expectation among the American public or military that American aircraft will never be shot down.
- tesch1 2y agoThe carrier "retreating" is also consistent with a lot of other scenarios, including just having fucked up majorly and needing a safe place to spend some quality time yelling at people.
- loeg 2y agoThe Houthis have no credibility, so I'm inclined to believe the Navy here.
- tptacek 2y agoThey claim a lot of things, but whatever air defense they have comes from Iran, and Iran, as we just saw, isn't capable of shooting down IAF F-15s flying over their own airspace. Ansar Allah did not shoot down an American F-18. I don't believe Ansar Allah has any meaningful air defense at all; it would make no strategic sense for them to invest in it, they have no hope of maintaining air superiority against any of their adversaries. Like Hezbollah, which trained them, and which also has no meaningful air defense, their strategy is to be hard to bomb effectively.
- Ponet1945 2y agoThe IAF did not fly over Iranian airspace, they launched ballistic missiles from Iraq.
- tptacek 2y agoI'm reading conflicting reports, but let's stipulate that; I don't think it makes any difference to the point I'm making. The better, clearer example is Lebanon, which hosts the crown jewel of the IRGC's proxy forces, and which doesn't have even a pretense of modern anti-aircraft defense. What would the point be? These are territories and militaries without meaningful air forces; they have already defaulted away air superiority. Their strategy is for that not to matter.
- aryonoco 2y agoAccording to BBC Persian (quoting Israeli sources) and many Israeli media , the IAF flew "hundreds" of sorties over Iranian airspace on that eventful night in October. The reporting is that they were F35s though, not F15. Iran's air defence system is based on the older Russian S300, which is incapable of detecting them. Of course it wasn't that long ago that Iran was flying F14s and had complete air superiority over its neighbours. How the times have changed.
- tptacek 2y agoI've seen credible reporting of F-35's, F-15's, and F-16's, all of which are platforms the IAF operates.
- digitalPhonix 2y agoThe actual quote is: > Saree explained that the operation “was carried out using eight cruise missiles and 17 drones, resulting in the downing of an F-18 fighter jet while the destroyers attempted to intercept the Yemeni drones and missiles.” So I think its possible that it was both a friendly fire incident and that the downing was the restult of the the Yemini attack.
- mikhailfranco 2y agoWard Carroll (former F-14 aviator) gives a complete description of the friendly-fire incident: Navy Cruiser Shot Down Super Hornet During Carrier Approach (and Nearly Hit Another One) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoYOsX2GpX4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoYOsX2GpX4