--- title: "Ludicrously Expensive Fighter Jets Keep Mysteriously Tumbling Off of an Aircraft Carrier" description: "For the third time in six months, an uber-expensive military fighter jet has fallen into the sea from the same Navy warship." date: "2025-05-08" modified: "2025-05-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fighter-jets-red-sea-navy-warship" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "aircraft carriers" - "fighter jets" - "military" - "the digest" - "warships" --- # Ludicrously Expensive Fighter Jets Keep Mysteriously Tumbling Off of an Aircraft Carrier ![For the third time in six months, an uber-expensive military fighter jet has fallen into the sea from the same Navy warship.]() *\Image: Chris Putnam / Future Publishing via Getty / Futurism\* ## Taking a Bath For the third time in six months, an uber-expensive military fighter jet has fallen into the sea from the same Navy warship amid continued American strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels. As [*CNN* reports](), a [$67 million F/A-18F jet]() was lost to the Red Sea earlier this week after its pilots failed to brake quickly enough during an attempted landing on the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. In a statement to the outlet, the Navy said that both aviators were safely ejected from the two-seater "Super Hornet" jet, as they're nicknamed, and neither sustained major injuries. Incredibly, this is the second time one of these massively expensive fighter crafts has plunged into the Red Sea from the Truman in less than two weeks — a tremendous waste of money amid this administration's quest to both [fatten up the Pentagon's budget]() while cutting spending on, well, [everything else](). ## Watery Death At the end of April, another Super Hornet met its watery demise after [falling off the warship](), which had swerved rapidly to avoid a drone strike from the Houthis, as [*CNN*]() and [other outlets]() reported at the time. The Truman's most recent mission fighting Houthis in the Red Sea was [launched at the end of 2024]() and has seemingly been cursed ever since. In late December, shortly after the [Nimitz-class warship]() exited the Suez Canal in North Africa and reached the Middle East, yet another F/A-18F crashed into the Red Sea — though on that occasion, it was the result of [mistaken friendly fire]() between the Truman and the USS Gettysburg. Unsurprisingly, the Navy has maintained since that first Super Hornet incident that it's investigating the unusual incidents with th*e Truman, w*hich was also involved in a [collision with a Panamanian merchant vessel]() back in February. Thus far, the only results we've seen from those probes were the [firing of the Truman's commanding officer]() after the February crash. While it's not exactly surprising that the Navy is keeping its cards close to its proverbial (war) chest, it does seem mighty egregious that upwards of $200 million have been lost at sea due to careless mistakes while Donald Trump's administration has brutally slashed government budgets. **More on the military:** [*The Trump Administration Switched to a Sketchy Signal Clone and It Got Hacked, Leaking Messages*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()