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Assuming this is the true purpose, why should France be sending an aircraft carrier to the area of China?

MenchOsint @MenchOsint

9h

French aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle & its accompanying fleet entered the Red Sea yesterday.

The aircraft carrier has approximately 31–34 aircraft in total, and is reportedly heading towards the western pacific (will transit Bab el Mandeb)

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EXCLUSIVE: On the same night a U.S. Navy fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea, a second jet nearly suffered the same fate. An F/A-18 Super Hornet – flying a few miles behind the Hornet that was shot down – was forced to take evasive maneuvers after a second surface-to-air missile was fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg, narrowly missing the second jet by 100 feet while it prepared to land aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, a source with knowledge of the incident tells Fox News.

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Will Schryver @imetatronink Dec 22

Now we know why the US Navy dedicates a lot of practice time to high-speed aircraft carrier U-turns.

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Will Schryver @imetatronink Dec 22

 Curious claim by the Yemeni that the USS Trembling Puppy skedaddled north to the vicinity of Sudan, and powered down all its systems.

Mmmm ... 

Perhaps the Yemeni have acquired some anti-ship missiles that can use a ship's EM emissions for targeting guidance?

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It appears to be true that USS Harry skedaddled north from its earlier position closer to Yemen:

JUST IN: Yemen’s Ansarallah vice president Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi:

If the U.S. Navy has not disclosed the reason behind the crash of the American aircraft, then why did the USS Harry Truman shut down all its systems and engines near Sudan yesterday?

We say to the Americans: Isn’t the cost of stopping the genocide in Gaza, lifting its siege, and demilitarizing the Red Sea to end terrorism in the region and Palestine less than what you are currently doing?

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Super Hornets are nowadays heavily used as "tankers" to refuel drones:

Tyler Rogoway @Aviation_Intel

F/A-18F Shot Down By Friendly Cruiser Was In The Middle Of A Refueling Mission

The friendly fire incident in the Red Sea also involved the most advanced Ticonderoga class cruiser in Navy service that had just been upgraded.

F/A-18F Was Downed By Friendly Fire As Jets Were About To Land On The Carrier

The friendly fire incident also came amid a sustained Houthi drone and missile attack targeting the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.

The latest: https://www.twz.com/sea/f-a-18f-shot-down-by-friendly-cruiser-was-in-the-middle-of-a-refueling-mission

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I appreciate your analysis of this event, using two other writers' information details. Trump better have people already at work to learn the truth of what did happen; but also, to have people working to understand and act upon the American public's initial reaction to the news of this tragedy from whatever storyline they come to accept, and what the public expects to be done---a remedy for effecting change for the better.

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Rather extraordinary that the US military is in the position of having to contest the Houthi claims by insisting on its own incompetence.

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Into the hall of fame of biting comments comes Mark Wauk. Extraordinary indeed. The self-identified adults in the room democrats have illustrated in these last four years that an Ivy league education is not superior to Podunk U, and petulant children should never be given the reigns of power.

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USNI fleet tracker shows the flat top squarely in the middle of the Red Sea. They wouldn't provide disinformation about this would they? https://news.usni.org/category/fleet-tracker

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BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Earlier it was reported that a US Navy F/A-18 fighter jet was shot down by friendly fire during an operation over the Red Sea, with both pilots ejecting safely.

Fighters of the Yemeni Ansar Allah (Houthi) group have repelled joint US-UK air forces attack, shooting down a US Navy F/A-18 fighter jet during their attack on USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, the group’s military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on Sunday.

“During the operation an F/A 18 jet was shot down attempting to repel the attack [on the US aircraft carrier],” Saree said on air of Almasirah TV channel.

Eight cruise missiles and 17 unmanned aerial vehicles were involved in the operation, the spokesman said.

He pointed out that the majority of fighter jets left Yemen’s air space and headed for the neutral waters of the Red Sea trying to repel the attack on the carrier. USS Harry S. Truman left its positions after the strikes, Saree said.

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Filippo Neri @FilippoNer97498

Nearly 40% of US attack submarines in or awaiting repair as shipyards face worker shortages, supply chain issues. (The situation hasn't changed significantly since this article was published.)

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The WSJ just ran a story this week about how bad the navy shipbuilding and maintenance is. Their conclusion? Congress needs to appropriate more money. $Billions.

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This is a typical reaction, but lets be real--this goes much deeper than Zhou:

Douglas Macgregor @DougAMacgregor

United States F/A-18 Super Hornet SH0T DOWN by a U.S. guided missile destroyer over the Red Sea..

Yes, we shot down our own plane..

If this doesn't put a cap on the worst Presidency of modern history, I'm not sure what does.

Both pilots were able to eject prior to impact.

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Wow:

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/houthi-missile-comes-shockingly-close-aircraft-carrier-uss-dwight-d-eisenhower-213258

My vote is incompetence with hair trigger anti missile defenses due to a constant threat of missiles and drones.

F-18 is old technology. It originally was the f-17 that flew off against the f-16 in the 70’s. F-35 is supposed to be replacing the f-18, but the navy is continuing to buy f-18’s.

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I grew up on the F4 flight line. You got your facts wrong.

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Supposably protective redunancies of transponder, radio contact, visual contact, radar signal, other (weather has not been mentioned anywhere as a factor) would prevent this

The only other possibility seems to be that a new version of a Houthi

unmanned aerial vehicle is able to 'similiarity' mimic the radar signal of the F/A-18 Super Hornet

getting two or three similar signals in an area and shooting at everything that moves

I do not know what I am talking about but it seems possible to me

though houthis have not mentioned it so possibly not yet

however the f-18 is old so the signal must be well known

So likely panic error with a not fully trained crew or

the houthis were able to shoot it down

or a chance of a reasonable error possible with a similar radar signal I do not know

Anyway friendly fire not surprising - I really am not surprised at all

Russia went through their own mishaps and education

and most concerning to the US Weapon and Troop Evolution

.

If friendly fire it's in the anticipated and expected category

if houthi unmanned vehicle with radar similarity it's a bit more interesting

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Is no one considering EW interference using Russian and/or Iranian kit?

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So far I haven't seen a location for the actual downing--maybe I've missed it. That might provide at least some indications or narrow down likely scenarios. For example, we should have some idea at what ranges EW interference could have taken place.

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interesting is and wonderful to hear - they were able to eject

which also seems amazing but confusing

so if ' friendly fire '

were they 'locked on' and had warning time

or

was it a machine gun that did damage

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The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64), which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group hit the F/A-18 initial reports

" which was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman " subsequent reports indicated possibly in the air or returning

so apparently at one may consider or guess close range

we don't know what it was hit with:

reportedly

The USS Gettysburg (CG-64) is a guided missile cruiser with the following weapons:

Vertical launch systems: Two 61-cell Mk 41 systems

Harpoon missiles: Eight RGM-84 Harpoon missiles

Lightweight guns: Two 5 in (127 mm)/62 caliber Mark 45 Mod 4 guns

Machine gun systems: Two Mk 38 25 mm systems

Machine guns: Two to four .50 in (12.7 mm) cal. machine guns

Phalanx CIWS: Two Phalanx CIWS Block 1B systems

Torpedo tubes: Two Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes

The Mark 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) can carry a variety of missiles, including:

Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM)

Tomahawk Cruise Missile

Standard Missile 2

Standard Missile 3

Standard Missile 6

Vertical Launch ASROC (VLA)

=========

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Thanks!

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Candidly I appreciate your writings and read your column often

I am sure readers would agree very well done

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I agree. incompetence supreme. Back to the North Sea for more training I suppose.

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