ABOARD THE USS EISENHOWER in the Red Sea \u2014 For the pilots on board this nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the effort to safeguard commercial shipping in the Red Sea requires them to adapt their high-tech training to an unexpected \u2014 and potentially vexing \u2014 new mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe did not train to come to the South Red Sea and do what we are currently doing,\u201d said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Travis Keating, an F\/A-18 Super Hornet pilot. \u201cWhen we first came out here, we had a lot of unknowns.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keating, who goes by the call sign \u201cSunshine,\u201d struck an optimistic tone when asked about pilots\u2019 daunting goal: locating and destroying hidden weapons depots in Houthi-controlled Yemen, a country famed for its rough mountainous terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are able to adapt and flex to the mission sets as we are tasked,” said Keating, who is also a squadron training officer. “And that to me is probably the coolest thing that we\u2019ve seen out here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday night, more than two dozen F\/A-18 Super Hornet fighters and support aircraft flew off the Eisenhower to take part in a joint U.S.-U.K. mission to target Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles and drones that Houthi forces have used to strike 30 cargo ships in the Red Sea since Nov. 19. Along with the airstrikes, U.S. destroyers accompanying the carrier fired Tomahawk missiles at Houthi targets on shore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NBC News is the only news organization embedded with U.S. naval forces in the Red Sea as they try to reduce Houthi strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all, the U.S. and the U.K. struck 36 Houthi targets in 13 locations in Yemen, U.S. officials said. Despite the U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi militants in Yemen issued defiant statements Saturday and Sunday, vowing to keep up their attacks in the Red Sea until Israel halts its military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Navy Capt. Marvin Scott, commander of Carrier Air Wing Three, said in an interview that \u201cwe are constantly planning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe plan for all sorts of contingencies as we develop military targets across Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled Yemen,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWe are constantly looking at ways that we can provide options to our civilian leadership to degrade their capability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott, who has years of experience as a fighter pilot, said the airstrikes carried out Saturday in Yemen were effective. \u201cYes, I would call last night\u2019s mission a success,\u201d he said. \u201cWe destroyed all of the targets that we were attempting to strike.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one level, the mission of Keating, Scott and other American pilots is not new. For more than two decades, U.S. fighter jets operating from aircraft carriers in the Middle East carried out air raids against Islamic State group militants in Iraq and Syria, Saddam Hussein\u2019s forces in Iraq and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, as well as other missions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n