On the night of April 28, 2025, a US F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet worth more than $60 million was lost in the Red Sea after it fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. According to CNN, the incident occurred while the aircraft was being towed in its hangar bay when the carrier made a sharp maneuver to evade an attack by drones and missiles launched by Yemen's Houthis. As a result, the aircraft and the tug ended up in the sea. One sailor suffered minor injuries, while the rest of the crew were unharmed. The incident was reported by the US Navy's Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO) office, without directly mentioning the Houthi attack.

The incident is the latest in a series of accidents involving the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been deployed in the Red Sea since September 2024 as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian. The carrier, accompanied by the cruiser USS Gettysburg and the destroyers USS Stout and USS Jason Dunham, has been countering attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthis, who control northwest Yemen, have been attacking military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November 2023, declaring solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks, sinking two ships and killing four sailors, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

The War Zone reports that the carrier's sharp turn was likely to evade a combined Houthi attack that included ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. The Houthis, according to spokesman Yahya Saria, said on April 26 that they had struck the USS Harry S. Truman with drones and missiles, which they claimed forced the carrier to retreat to the northern Red Sea. However, CENTCOM denied that the ship had been hit directly, saying an investigation into the loss of the aircraft was ongoing.

The F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to VFA-136, is a single-seat variant of the fighter jet that serves as part of Carrier Air Wing 1. The jet, which Forbes reports costs up to $55,7 million per unit, features advanced avionics and weapons systems, making it a key asset for the U.S. Navy. The loss of the jet highlights the high tensions in the region, where the Houthis have adopted Iranian technology, including the KAS-04 (Samad) drones and ballistic missiles like the Zulfiqar. In April, the Houthis claimed to have attacked the USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson, and shot down an MQ-9 Reaper over Sanaa.

This is not the first incident involving the USS Harry S. Truman. In December 2024, another F/A-18F Super Hornet was shot down by the cruiser USS Gettysburg in a "friendly fire" incident when the crew mistook the aircraft for a threat. Both pilots ejected and survived, with one suffering minor injuries. In February 2025, the carrier collided with a merchant ship off Port Said, Egypt, with no casualties.

The investigation into what caused the plane to go down will likely focus on the actions of the crew, the condition of the equipment, and the impact of external threats. As maritime operations expert Sal Mercogliano noted in Stars and Stripes, the Houthi attacks pose significant risks to operations in the Red Sea, including the potential for the plane's wreckage to be seized by the enemy, which could threaten to leak technology. The U.S. Navy has no immediate plans to raise the sunken plane, given the complexity and danger of such an operation in a conflict zone.