Us Fighter Jet Falls Overboard While Avoiding Houthi Attack

A Navy fighter jet fell overboard Monday when the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier veered to avoid fire from the Houthis, according to two defense officials.

The military was using the $60 million jet as part of its weekslong campaign against Houthi fighters in Yemen, who have attacked commercial and military shipping in the waterway for the past two years.

One sailor was injured in the mishap, which included the loss of a vehicle used to tow the aircraft across the deck. The plane and truck sank, according to the officials, who were granted anonymity to speak about the attack.

The aircraft’s loss adds to the growing price tag in the effort against the Houthis, which has included seven MQ-9 drones shot down by the Iran-backed group over the past several weeks. The Houthis have brought down more than a dozen of the surveillance drones since October 2023, when they began attacking ships in the Red Sea to, as they said, help Hamas in its war with Israel. They cost more than $20 million each.

“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft,” the Navy said in a statement. “Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”

The U.S. Central Command has conducted more than 800 airstrikes against the group as part of Operation Rough Rider. That’s the largest American air campaign since the operation against ISIS during President Donald Trump’s first term, which targeted the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

The recent strikes have killed “hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including senior Houthi missile and [drone] officials,” according to a statement from Centcom, which has said it is specifically targeting Houthi commanders who control the group’s drone forces.

The operation has degraded Houthi capabilities, including reducing ballistic missile launches by 69 percent this year compared with 2024, according to the statement. Launches of one-way attack drones have decreased by 55 percent.

The open-ended U.S. campaign is part of a wider push to increase pressure on Iran, which continues to provide support to the Houthis in the form of drones, ballistic missiles and small arms.

The carrier was involved in another incident this year when it collided with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal, leading to the firing of its commander.

The Truman and its escort ships — a mix of destroyers and cruisers — were supposed to head home last month. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended their deployment while ordering another carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, to the region to bolster attacks against the Houthis.

The Pentagon has also dispatched at least six B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in recent weeks, a move that puts them in range of Iran.