The Navy lost a second F\/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea on a mission to target Houthi rebels in Yemen, the same day the U.S. announced a ceasefire deal with the militants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fighter jet from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was landing on the flight deck \u201cwhen the arrestment failed<\/strong>, causing the aircraft to go overboard,\u201d a defense official told The Hill. The arrestment is the hook system aircraft use to catch steel wire ropes on the flight deck as it lands, and it is unclear what part of the system was faulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the fighter went overboard, its two pilots were forced to eject<\/strong>, but they were rescued by a search-and-rescue helicopter and only had minor injuries, with no flight deck personnel injured, according to the official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The loss of the more than $60 million<\/strong> Super Hornet is the latest incident aboard the Truman as it engaged in a U.S. airstrike campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen, which began March 15 but appears to be paused following President Trump\u2019s announcement Tuesday that there is now a ceasefire between the two sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ceasefire, mediated by Oman, has secured a tentative end to attacks on American ships in the Red Sea, but details are slim on the concessions<\/strong> made by both sides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, the ceasefire allows the Trump administration to claim victory<\/strong> in clearing the pathway for commercial shipping and that served to justify the military campaign against the designated-terrorist group in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump on Wednesday credited the U.S. strikes with bringing the Houthis to the table<\/strong>. Since mid-March, the U.S. military has said it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen as part of Operation Rough Rider. The strikes have killed \u201chundreds\u201d of Houthi fighters and leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials, and degraded their capabilities, Pentagon officials claimed late last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Truman aircraft carrier strike group has been in the Middle East region since this past fall, and in that time it has lost at least three F\/A-18s<\/strong>. The first was shot down in the Red Sea in December when it was \u201cmistakenly fired\u201d upon by the USS Gettysburg, though both pilots ejected safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe hit them very hard.<\/strong> They had a great capacity to withstand punishment. They took tremendous punishment\u2026 But we honored their commitment and their word, they gave us their word that they wouldn\u2019t be shooting ships anymore and we honor that,\u201d Trump said during a swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office for his new ambassador to China, former Sen. David Perdue\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Ga). <\/p>\n\n\n\n