Two Navy pilots ejected over the Red Sea early Sunday after their fighter jet was shot down in a “friendly fire” incident, the Pentagon said. In a statement, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said that the American guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly fired on and hit the pilots’ F/A-18 aircraft. The mistaken shoot-down seems to have taken place during U.S. airstrikes that targeted Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The embarrassing and near-deadly incident is the latest in a string of recent military mishaps. This one could carry significant political and foreign policy ramifications, as it is likely to elevate the debate about the wisdom of continuing America’s expensive, dangerous air campaign against the Houthis. Pentagon officials said there will be a thorough review of the incident.

Both pilots were safely rescued. Initial assessments show that one of the crew members incurred minor injuries. This event was not caused by enemy fire, and a thorough investigation is ongoing, according to CENTCOM’s statement. The CENTCOM statement on the friendly fire incident made no clear mention of the Houthi strikes. However, just hours earlier, the Pentagon said in a separate statement that American troops “conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility” used by the Houthis in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a.

“During the operation, CENTCOM forces shot down multiple Houthi one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea,” CENTCOM stated in its first statement on the Houthi strikes. According to Defence Department comments, the US attacks included the use of F/A-18 fighter jets, such as the one shot down in the friendly fire incident. For nearly a year, the United States has spearheaded a multinational air campaign against the Houthi rebels. Those Iran-backed rebels began attacking commercial ship traffic in the Red Sea and other nearby waterways shortly after Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group, staged a major terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Since then, the Houthis have frequently targeted commercial ships, launched missiles and attack drones at Israel, and harassed American ships in the region. Last January, two Navy SEALs were declared deceased after going missing at sea during a mission to intercept Iranian weaponry allegedly intended for the Houthis. The friendly fire incident on Sunday morning will undoubtedly raise serious concerns about the United States’ operation against the Houthis, which lacks clear success indicators or a completion deadline. One of the most pressing foreign policy problems for incoming President-elect Donald Trump is whether he would maintain the long-running, more expensive campaign. There are no specific numbers for how much the US has spent fighting the Houthis, but it’s widely assumed to be in the billions of dollars.

One of the most high-profile cases took place last year, when an Air Force CV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan, killing all eight service members aboard. Investigators said it resulted from a “catastrophic failure” of the troubled craft’s gearbox and the pilot’s decision not to land immediately in response to warnings in the cockpit. Osprey flights were grounded again earlier this month after another near-crash in New Mexico. They were recently cleared to resume flights. Also last year, an F-35 fighter jet flew unmanned for 11 minutes before it crashed in rural South Carolina after investigators said the pilot prematurely ejected from the aircraft. In October, two Navy aviators died in a jet crash near Mount Rainier in Washington state.