INSANE DETAILS of US NAVY F-18 Super Hornet Friendly Fire SHOOT DOWN

[@johnb7490]

Ex Navy guy who worked on F14s. The scenarios you mentioned are spot on, great job. The holes in the swiss cheese lined up. Congrats to the pilots, rescue crews and many others.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for that! I appreciate your perspective

[@zlm001]

​@@MaxAfterburnerusa 0:21 What the heck is going on here? Did the missile intentionally bounce off the water before impact? Does it do this to slow down for some reason? I couldn't find any answers about with a quick Google search, but I did find a couple of research papers on anti ship missile fuselage design and sea skimming path optimization. I didn't find any answers that could confirm anything, but the papers lead me to believe that most missiles launched with sea skimming fight paths will impact the water due to a large variety of reasons. So it seems that this is just really common and they just design the missiles to be able to survive and handle impacting the water instead of trying to make the sensors, electronics, and control surfaces fast and precise enough to never touch the water. They just try to make it so the loads aren't to high and they don't lose to much speed instead of putting the most expensive, accurate and quick sensors and controls that would be necessary to fly at extremely low altitude without touching the water. Is this correct?

[@Chzydawg]

Yet, sucks for the taxpayer. As much as it's great that nobody was killed. Pilot and wizzo likely stand an inch or two shorter at the very least, a million dollar missile was shot at a $100million dollar jet (fully loaded). That's without the acquirement of another jet and potential training of a new flight crew. In an economy like this, that's no bueno. Even without the f18 and crew, million dollar missile vs a drone at a fraction of the cost is dumb af.

[@chrisrh281]

Man that training is incredible. To process all that information from the missile tracking you to making the decision to eject, knowing all the repercussions, all within the span of seconds is truly amazing. Thank God nobody was taken out. Great breakdown MA.

[@InlandOne]

Great presentation. I worked in a former USAF strategic bomber combat evaluation unit where we operated & maintained IFF/SIF radar equipment & the importance of correct mode/squawk codes can’t be overstated.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Awesome. Thank you for that!

[@cannoncottle]

This is one of the most interesting videos I've ever watched. Thank you for making this! Please make more in depth content like this. Love the deep dive.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Will do! Please share the video!

[@Squats3]

one important note on IFF. this happened at like 3am local. IFF loads two days at a time to keep things like this from happening. this leads me to believe that the Gettysburg either had a bad load the day before, or they still loaded during flight ops (i would never), got a bad load and no one in combat caught it. edit: Because the gettysburg launched on two f-18s i would think the ship had the iff issue. or the truman was just launching jets all night that had bad crypto. i dont think that would happen.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Interesting point thanks!

[@MattH-wg7ou]

I too was wondering about a bad Mode 5 Midnight Zulu crypto rollover. But do they not have Link16? One would think they would, and the F18s would have been PPLIs. Maybe they got kicked off the net at midnight and had to re-enter? A lot of things had to go wrong, but after that, it seemed the CSAR op went pretty well.

[@zlm001]

0:21 What the heck is going on here? Did the missile intentionally bounce off the water before impact? Does it do this to slow down for some reason? I couldn't find any answers about with a quick Google search, but I did find a couple of research papers on anti ship missile fuselage design and sea skimming path optimization. I didn't find any answers that could confirm anything, but the papers lead me to believe that most missiles launched with sea skimming fight paths will impact the water due to a large variety of reasons. So it seems that this is just really common and they just design the missiles to be able to survive and handle impacting the water instead of trying to make the sensors, electronics, and control surfaces fast and precise enough to never touch the water. They just try to make it so the loads aren't to high and they don't lose to much speed instead of putting the most expensive, accurate and quick sensors and controls that would be necessary to fly at extremely low altitude without touching the water. Is this correct?

[@vettedriver8104]

IFF codes don’t change mid-mission…USAF or USN!! When the F-18 was returning there should have not been a problem. Multiple safeguards are active to prevent so called “friendly fire incidents” from happening today…so HELL NO! 🇺🇸

[@altsak840]

​@@zlm001I don't think it hit the water. Watch it in slow motion. My quess is the missile wants a look up (to minimize ground/water clutter) scenario at the end game so the profile is to go deep and pop up for the kill.

[@pollylewis9611]

Thank you for explaining this event to us, just so much military personnel have to think about to keep all safe, again thank you Ryan.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for watching! I appreciate your support!

[@Cirux321]

How about the quick thinking of the pilot? To have the wherewithal to understand his plane was the target and punch himself and his WSO out saving their lives. Keep this in mind, they're in the landing pattern, meaning their RWR, countermeasures..etc are all switched off. They have five bubbles, flying dirty (gear and hook down, flaps down) and at approach speed 250-300 knts). So this man is in the hardest, most mentally and physically taxing stage of flight (carrier landing and at low light state), all his defensive equipment is off and he still is visually tracking this missile, calculating it's trajectory, interpretation of the pending threat and ejects. That pilot is the definition of a hero. Also a shout out to the LSO who's quick action to contact the skipper which saved the second bird and crew. Lots of speculation around the root cause of the incident, but one thing definitely is not called to question, and that's the quick reaction and decision making during and after things went horribly wrong. Could have been much worse, but everyone lived to fly another day which is all that matters.

[@makslabreve6847]

Well done to Martin-Baker - they make that ejection seat that saved both of their lives.

[@dl6519]

I waited until you video on the topic came out, not watching any of the others. Well worth the wait. Thank you.

[@tn8402]

Your analysis of this additional information about the incident is head and shoulders above comparable ones.

[@drewstaf2955]

Thanks for the heads up, i watch a lot of your stuff and thought i was subbed...corrected that right away.

[@sultanabran1]

thanks for the insight and breakdown. awesome content.

[@heavyjmertes197]

Excellent video. Great breakdown of this unfortunate event. Honestly, in a high alert situation like what's going on in the Red Sea right now, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Years ago, I had a conversation with a WW2 naval avaitor who mentioned how often they would experience friendly AA fire while on mission during the war.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Great comment thank you !

[@marka6331]

Thanks for the explanation.

[@michaelraney6732]

Thank you for the jargon translation! As a civi I was doing good to understand 30% of the post lol

[@alex_soaring_poseidon]

Thanks!

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

WOW! Thanks for your support Alex! Support like this helps me keep making videos for everyone. 🫡

[@alex_soaring_poseidon]

Hey Ryan, just a small token of appreciation for the fantastic channel that you’ve created. Maybe one day our paths will cross in a terminal somewhere. Beers are on me, but NOT in the terminal😉

[@0101-s7v]

excellent breakdown. Thank you. A couple weeks ago I heard that they possibly turned guidance off on the 2nd missile. Thank God for that, because who knows if the crew of the 2nd F-18 would have preemptively ejected as well.

[@Tripped11]

For reference all of the SM2s are guided by the main SPY-1 radars, the big stop sign arrays on the side of the ship. Terminal guidance only is from the illuminators on the top.

[@slideoff1]

My youngest son is Navy. He used to sit in a control room on the ship and he does all the computer stuff for his FA-18 Super Hornets when they fly. He has 17 years in now and is a recruiter in Memphis Tennessee for his last 3 years.

[@clifjr954]

The computer stuff eh?

[@robertwallace4515]

Computer stuff lol

[@Nebula_Ultra]

...ok. Good for him?

[@othyvitswamba1111]

Very precise that it does spare their own jet. What a professional navy!

[@jimcoughlin9932]

Well done as usual, thanks

[@unknownname7731]

Thank you! Great report!

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for watching! I appreciate your support.

[@jasontipton8430]

Nobody could have explained it better. thank you

[@JPH11]

Really great, succinct analysis !

[@Skyhawks1979]

There is always a current day and the next day load in the crypto gear. No way the code was wrong when the aircraft initially launched. Unlikely that two aircraft had a mechanical failure at the same time. If the pilots were airborne at 0000 Zulu, they may not have rolled the codes over to the new day (used to be a manual switch in the cockpit to do so) Also, on older crypto, the codes "zero out" when the landing gear touches the deck in order to prevent the codes from being compromised. Pilots could prevent this by turning a "hold" switch prior to landing. Since these aircraft had previously landed after their first sortie for more fuel, the most likely scenario is that they did not "hold" the codes over and were not checked to ensure the IFF was coded prior to the subsequent launch and had been flying the sortie with no codes on either aircraft. Even if that occurred, there should have been additional safeguards in place with the ship to prevent this from happening.

[@itstrue-lcw1]

Wow Wee Captain🫡 Another EXCELLENT presentation👏 Can't believe your lingo😎 Learned a lot❣️

[@mitchellgreene867]

Excellent breakdown

[@VOLTRIZZZLE]

Lead pursuit would be stationary in the canopy (and getting bigger), pure pursuit will be moving back in the canopy towards six o’clock, no?

[@Notyou5556]

Correct

[@andrewstorm8240]

How close was the aircraft to the carrier deck? Also why did missile launch so late if it did see threat in those 2 aircraft?

[@ChristopherSterwerf]

Great breakdown! Best one I have heard do far

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@sorenkirksdjfk7310]

Losses in the Red Sea so far: 2 navy seals 1 F-18 13 mq-9 reapers And that's just from facing the Houthis 😂

[@RandomExitsJT]

The air controller on the Hawkeye or the Truman should have seen a bad M4 and RTB the aircraft immediately. I was AIC in the Navy and IFF is ALWAYS monitored and non-negotiable. Bad IFF is a day off from flying or grabbing one of the spare rides.

[@DrDeuteron]

the military does not need to be saying "uncrewed" to describe autonomous or remotely crewed drones just because woman are upset by the phrase "unmanned". Over in my sector they were called "uninhabited areal vehicles", which is even stupider.

[@rickmellor]

Excellent video... really appreciate it!

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RussianSevereWeatherVideos]

As we can see, accidents happen. Even to the best of the best. The fog of war ain't helping either. Keep that in mind when y'all discuss shooting down incidents! Drones are truly everywhere!

[@anttiruo]

What you are describing in the beginning is datalink, which indeed is part of many Semi-Active Radar Homing missiles. But the SARH principle is not about the radar sending guidance signals to the missile. In SARH the radar illuminates the target and the missiles homes on the radar waves relected by the target.

[@buzzman4860]

Great commentary

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thank you!

[@crans5423]

Love getting your perspective on this stuff!

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Wargasm54]

Why would the Gettysburg shoot at an aircraft so close ? Wouldn’t they have engaged it much earlier? How far was the F-18 from the rest of the fleet? What if those dudes ditched and the plane smacks into the carrier? Does the plane have a “ditch” mode and just fall into the ocean?

[@zlm001]

0:21 What the heck is going on here? Did the missile intentionally bounce off the water before impact? Does it do this to slow down for some reason? I couldn't find any answers about with a quick Google search, but I did find a couple of research papers on anti ship missile fuselage design and sea skimming path optimization. I didn't find any answers that could confirm anything, but the papers lead me to believe that most missiles launched with sea skimming fight paths will impact the water due to a large variety of reasons. So it seems that this is just really common and they just design the missiles to be able to survive and handle impacting the water instead of trying to make the sensors, electronics, and control surfaces fast and precise enough to never touch the water. They just try to make it so the loads aren't to high and they don't lose to much speed instead of putting the most expensive, accurate and quick sensors and controls that would be necessary to fly at extremely low altitude without touching the water. Is this correct?

[@OllyDenning]

i rlly want to know as well

[@bbwphantom]

Best explanation of the dialog that I have heard so far. Subscribe

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for subscribing! I appreciate the support.

[@zlm001]

Thanks.

[@lofighost8811]

Leave it to the states to have the strongest military with likely the most friendly fire incidents 😂

[@Motorman2112]

The fact they shot at both jets would point to the IFF code issue being on the ship rather than the jets wouldn't it? I suppose you could have a systemic issue where they made the same mistake on both jets if they were part of the same flight.

[@BeechSportBill]

…really great coverage…

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thank you!

[@VincenzoCaliendo-j5x]

Question, didn't their RWR detect the missile tracking them? did they had it off?

[@briancrawford69]

That thins is going so damn fast ince its out of there lol. Wow

[@axelalva8703]

Waiting for the DCS recreation…

[@notsureyou]

Friendly fire...... isn't friendly.....

[@cliffclof]

@13:24 so this is a code 101 error. The first month of training date time is one of the things learned in programming.

[@MARVINMotorSport]

Non aviator, but interested in Aviation, never even considered that the F18 could refuel other planes. Is this a standard config across other military plane types? 🤯

[@Scapeonomics]

Yeah, when you're operating from a carrier, F18 is what you've gotta use, as the big, land-based tankers can't take off or land from a carrier deck. During my last deployment, I'd say over half of the planes we launched were tankers.

[@59thfsaviation79]

Fine. I subscribed, but only because I crewed Vipers for 10 years. Maybe it's time for a Crew Chief video?

[@nobodyhome2318]

Great overview!🎉👍

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for watching!

[@behnamsaeedi]

I wonder why the IFF did not do what it was supposed to. I wonder if they were locked on a different target, but the missile went pitbull on the wrong aircraft.

[@stewie84]

Thanks for this video.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

You're welcome, I hope you enjoyed it!

[@trevorgale1176]

WW2: The English fly over the Germans duck, the Germans fly over the English duck, the Americans fly over everyone ducks.

[@AbbeFaria-o1c]

That shrapnel effect reminds me of the PAC2 on PATRIOT missiles.

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Which Patriot is the HTK, PAC3?

[@AbbeFaria-o1c]

@ yeah the PAC3s do that so does THAAD.

[@ifell3]

What does the plane do once a pilot has ejected, does it go into ditch mode. Would be bad luck if it just carried on gliding into the carrier.

[@shadownor]

Thanks

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

You’re welcome 🫡

[@orion_13]

You are 10 to 15 behind the carrier. You have secured countermeasures by that point. So they are not even an option.

[@Shoot_and_Scoot]

F18- The navy’s newest submarine. Jk. Glad nobody was killed.

[@Dstew57A]

Absolutely phenomenal video Neo…so very interesting..Thank you.. a lot of info here..not to be critical because I certainly don’t know what I am talking compared to your experience and expertise but… does any of your critique compromise military communication protocols in reading that email and decoding the crew’s communications

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks D! That email was openly available on X but has since been deleted

[@Dstew57A]

@@MaxAfterburnerusa thanks Neo. Blows my mind how detailed and coordinated everything has to be …now we just need to find out why the ship fired to friendly…

[@ChrisTurner-xj9wi]

I sincerely wonder if the pilots were thinking about getting ready to throw hands with the dudes who pressed the button on the Ghettysburg?

[@melvinolsen3171]

Great video

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@recce8619]

I really want to know how Blunder got his callsign

[@iamsospicy3309]

He fell victim to one of the classic blunders

[@خالدمحمد-ي9ع8د]

Soo the Hothy was a usa friend in the end of the day 😁 and ther fire was friendly fire 🙃

[@AlphaGatorDCS]

great video! would they have their RWRs turned off?

[@tomwilson1006]

They’re about to land on the ship, which is one of the hardest things to do in aviation. Usually RWR and chaff/flare dispensers are OFF when getting ready to land on the boat. RWR going off is nothing but a distraction when trying to concentrate on landing at night, so either it’s turned off or turned way down. Fighters get painted all the time by radar systems, even friendly’s.

[@juhasaarinen3033]

Thanks agen max

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

You’re welcome!

[@freq32]

Roger, Roger.

[@indoorandoutdoorendurance3889]

Hi: I watched the whole video all the way through, and one thought in my mind was wondering if the two ejected pilots were in danger of the missile shrapnel while they were parachuting in the air. On the other hand, if the missile hit the plane directly, maybe it did not emit any shrapnel due to the fact that its explosive power was entirely used in destroying the aircraft. Also, did the second missile explode and emit any shrapnel? I think you mentioned what happened in the beginning, but later when you talked about the pilot's narration of the incident afterwards, you did not mention the emitting of any shrapnel in that narration. I also did not get a clear idea of whether the first missile directly struck the aircraft, and exactly what happened with the second missile. Maybe I wasn't listening closely enough.... Regardless, I think if the two Naval Airmen were in any danger from shrapnel while they were parachuting in the air, you would have mentioned that. Thanks!

[@overkill1340]

Danger of shrapnel would depend on range. How long before they punched out and the missile detonated will dictate how far away from the explosion they were. The pilot only mentioned the pop of the fuse, he didn't mention any shrapnel. My understanding, from seeing a few vids about this, is that someone on the destroyer got a call and cut the link to the second missile. That aircraft was able to react faster, being further from the ship and already seeing one F-18 hit by a missile, dove for the deck to gain speed, but they probably still would have been hit if the missile was guiding. Without the radar link the second missile stopped guiding and crashed into the water, close enough that the pilot heard and/or saw it splash down.

[@indoorandoutdoorendurance3889]

@overkill1340 Thank You! Your reply was very informative!

[@AzAz-oz4ey]

What happen to the radar lock warning system inside the jet .

[@Frost640]

The one that they usually turn off when they're close to fleet since there's countless radar getting pointed at them.

[@Tripped11]

They don't get a radar lock warning till the missile is on top of them anyway. The "radar lock" is the presence of a constant wave radar detection, that doesn't happen till the very end of the engagement with Aegis.

[@flym0]

Ex RN EW operator here; weren't the F-18s TXing their radars?

[@nyquillisdillwad2824]

Wait what? We shot down our own jet?

[@ShreddingFinn]

Are these guys on the weapons free to fire at any perceived threats or do they have a series of checks they need to go through before firing

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

That’s a great question there will be a specific ROE for each theatre but I’m not sure exactly what it is for the Red Sea

[@joefu3]

@@MaxAfterburnerusa Not sure what it would be for them right now, but in threat areas on an AEGIS ship, generally, there is a pre-designated list of criteria a target has to meet for the ship to shoot without asking permission from higher up. AEGIS also supports a limited amount of automatic engagement capability. The fact that they've been actively engaging Houthi missiles and drones probably means that their criteria to engage without higher authority is more favorable for shooting than it would have been otherwise. Normally this criteria would be deconflicted with the operating and engagement area of friendly fighters, and I am sure that one of the key points of the investigation will be about how the ship was able to mistake the friendlies for a hostile target.

[@BasedStreetRacer]

how dare youtube hide this from me for 44 seconds...

[@AlienGamer38]

Oh please be quite

[@mike7652]

​@@AlienGamer38 *quiet, not "quite" Please learn words.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Haha glad you enjoyed it

[@creakyprimate]

Irony impaired 😅

[@davidrichards4451]

How much time did he have from when he saw the launch until he ejected?

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

I would guess 20 seconds max

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

Is it POSSIBLE, that the Houthi's shot it down? I know it's anathema to give then any kind of war-fighting credit but is it possible?

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

No. not in my opinion

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

@@MaxAfterburnerusa Fair enough...

[@jimharper1782]

I don’t think a Houthi AA missile would make it that far into the fleet or have that kind of range when fired from land.

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

@@jimharper1782 I realize they are not building their best missiles but the Houthi's are pulling surprises on our fleet and on Israel. I don't think the mainstream media want to cover that part. Or they will give it their usual paint job.

[@Scapeonomics]

@@jimharper1782 Also they literally saw it the entire time since the launch. Unless the Houthis somehow found an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer laying around, I'm pretty sure it was friendly fire lol.

[@benz500r]

Have we gone mad already? I hope they have a good excuse for doing that.

[@ypw510]

The comment about it exploding like a shotgun blast is very explanatory, although I understood that this was a massive warhead and would have likely killed the crew of a plane this small. I don't know how many times I've read someone claiming that missiles "blow up" targets in a fireball like in Top Gun, which is a justification for why the Azerbaijan Airlines incident couldn't have been from a Russian missile.

[@mikkotoikka3188]

Still cant get it . Why missle targeted to drone start chasing own plane.

[@robertsmith4681]

What is a 4.7 bingo ? I assume bingo means low fuel but what does the 4.7 part mean ? (Canadian civilian, not up to snuff on the acronyms and lingo)

[@charlesaugust8671]

The F-18 had 4,700 pounds of fuel on board. I don't know if that was own fuel, or give, but apparently at that fuel state the aircraft was to recover, refuel and relaunch.

[@robertsmith4681]

@@charlesaugust8671 Makes sense, thank you.

[@chrisb5986]

I don't care about the technical details. I care about the accountability. Where is it? Just a lowly civilian here. This is unacceptable.

[@hernerweisenberg7052]

That footage in the beginning looks weird. Why would it go down, hit the ocean, bounce off and then hit the target? Looks like it missed and self destructed.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Yeah someone who knows SM-2’s chime in and let us know!

[@battleclover9537]

Why are you firing these missiles when there are friendlies flying around area?

[@Shoot_and_Scoot]

Cause the navy really really hates airplanes. If they didn’t shoot it down they’d try to turn it into a submarine.

[@owensparks5013]

That's like asking a soilder why he shot the enemies attacking his position when there were other soldiers in the area.

[@battleclover9537]

@ no, that is not equivalent. I bet the Commander is relieved when the investigation comes out. This feels more like a negligent discharge on a shooting range. How close were the “drones” he was targeting, if any, when he fired?

[@darkart-mr8wu]

Hate to break it to you folks (BUT WE WILL NEVER KNOW)! no navy person will tell you the truth and are dancing around the answer! (the truth is their over 30 officers involved including the captain) ( update the ship was relieved of its responsibilities while the investigation was happening) and a Captain's mask was called forth! you could hear him screaming from the flight deck because those jets took off and were not engaged by that ship (ONLY when they returned)! (my best guess is the friend or foe rolled over and dropped them a 10-second call to the flight boss could have cleared this up keep in mind that their over 30 folks involved in shooting down those F-18's!

[@aR0ttenBANANA]

Wait, this actually happened 😮 how probable is it someone gets fired?

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

It did happen yes

[@FedericoLucchi]

"friendly fire" ...great to see USA and Houthis are finally friends

[@lightman489]

I thought how stupid do you have to be to shoot down one of your own planes, but now after watching your video it doesn't seem stupid at all and and could happen again.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Thanks for watching! Yeah warfare is so dynamic

[@lightman489]

@MaxAfterburnerusa i don't know if this is something that is drilled into your mind about ditching when a rocket has a lock but his quick thinking saved them both, there's nothing safe in a war zone . Thanks for your service and continuing to educate

[@Vintech64]

There is no excuse. Very shameful...

[@PropertyEnvy]

I have to call BS on most of what you've said because it simply doesn't hold up. I was an AAW operator aboard ships, and there’s no way you could accidentally shoot down a friendly aircraft. First, any sailor would immediately recognise that the radar shown at 00:58 is neither an air search radar nor a STIR radar. The problem with so-called "experts" is that they often speak outside their lane, and making speculative statements like "it could be" destroys all credibility within the first minute of this video - if you don't know, just say you don't know - it's ok. Second, the claim that the SM-2 missile has a range of 90 nautical miles is just wrong. Wikipedia says so, but in reality, the range is classified. AAW operators, especially those on carrier escorts, monitor jets daily and know the difference between a friendly, an unknown, or a threat. Mistaking a friendly for a hostile drone is impossible. Before any engagement, you’d classify the contact as a faker, joker, or vampire. Jets near a ship wouldn’t exhibit vampire characteristics, so they’d initially be categorised as a joker until we could verify that they were a friendly or an enemy. At that point, operators would either broadcast a warning or have the AIC (Air Intercept Controller) confirm their position. Jumping straight to firing solution is an unfounded and implausible leap. Additionally, launching a missile isn’t as simple as flipping one guarded switch like in an F-15E. It requires multiple button presses and coordination among several operators before a launch can even happen. The process is partly designed to prevent mistakes like this. Finally, the jet would already be part of the data link, continuously reporting its position, Mode-4 or not. Even if the Mode-4 in the jet died we still know what it is by other means. The idea that Mode-4 was out and we engaged it because of that is total nonsense. We don’t just shoot at a radar random return-we lock onto it and fire at the associated symbol that is assigned to it. A jet actively reporting itself in the link would clearly show as friendly, Mode-4 or not. The system doesn’t arbitrarily assign threat categories; it processes friendly signals and ensures they’re unmistakably recognised by operators before any engagement. This brings me to my broader point: WHY are you so egar to believe what the Government is telling you. Governments lie about plenty of things, so why suddenly believe them now? From Hunter's laptop to C19, they’ve lied to the public thousands of times in the past 4-years. Why would you take anything they say at face value? As an operator, I can confidently say this scenario doesn’t add up. This isn’t the 1990s-we’ve advanced far beyond the past "blue on blue" incidents and learned from them.

[@mracer8]

Exactly, I think what actually happen is the Houthis have few secret agent abroad the boat and trying to shoot down American plane!

[@PropertyEnvy]

@mracer8 lol - bang on!

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

You okay bro?

[@gp33music41]

There's a difference between shady business deals and a radar operator screwing up dude

[@altimetrosencero8553]

"Friendly fire"😂 yeah sure buddy

[@robertwallace4515]

I think I'm gonna place the blame on the Didn't Earn It club

[@Notyou5556]

X took this all down. U can not post this there.

[@darrell9546]

Huh. From what I gathered from media reports, I was under the impression it was a charlie foxtrot during an exercise, not a real time active mission.

[@hypersonicmonkeybrains3418]

My crypto dumps for no reason many times, especially those meme coins.

[@MaxAfterburnerusa]

Ha I see what you did there

[@toejam7606]

Well pkenty of other jets buzzed carriers and pkanes and jothing happened, then they shoot down their own lol. Gotta be a joke

[@RawTruth-Genx]

So just like TWA 800

[@charlesaugust8671]

not

[@hypersonicmonkeybrains3418]

Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

[@SoloAuxz]

Darn that DEI they made us blue on blue.

[@Simon-u2e]

DEI hire I'm guessing. Likely an African?