Tag: friendly fire

Superpower USA supposedly can’t shoot down “mysterious” drones, but we have no problem shooting down our own $30 million F-18 fighter jets 

  • The government’s inability to address mysterious drones raises doubts about its claimed incapacity to capture or shoot down drones hovering over uninhabited areas.
  • The disparity in handling drone threats overseas versus on American soil highlights a concerning lack of effectiveness in countering drones within U.S. borders.
  • The incident of two U.S. Navy pilots shot down over the Red Sea due to friendly fire questions the adequacy of U.S. defense measures against drone threats.
  • Recent drone sightings in Arizona and New Jersey suggest a domestic origin, emphasizing the need for enhanced protocols to safeguard American airspace and critical infrastructure.
  • The evolving challenges in maintaining airspace security underscore the urgency for the U.S. government to prioritize protecting America and its citizens from emerging drone threats.

Who says our government can’t shoot down these mysterious drones? Plenty of them are flying around over areas where there are no people, no homes, no businesses, and no threat of harm to people on the ground. Does the United States Air Force and Navy claim they have ZERO ability to capture or shoot down these flying objects, that hover in one area for extended periods of time?

Are we really supposed to believe that? What, do the drones and orbs have invisible forcefields around them that are impervious to missiles? Maybe they are all like the Star Trek Enterprise – “divert warp power to the shields Captain Kirk!”

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Understanding The Military Tech Behind This Weekend’s Blue-On-Blue Incident

The United States has arguably the best and most experienced combat air forces on the planet. The US has four of them, in fact: The US Air Force, as well as air forces serving the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps. The US Navy also maintains both a surface and sub-surface navy second to none. However, these facts do not mean that there are no inherent dangers to be found in combat operations, including the risk of poorly named “friendly-fire” incidents.

One of those incidents happened this past weekend when a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, the USS Gettysburg (CG-64), accidentally shot down an F/A-18 F Super Hornet over the southern Red Sea. This aircraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 11, the “Red Rippers,” operating from the USS Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. When not onboard the Truman, the Red Rippers squadron is home port based at Naval Air Station Oceana, near Norfolk, Virginia.

America has extensive experience with guided missiles used offensively and defensively onboard ships dating back to the late 1950s, but even our latest generation of radar targeting systems and incredibly sophisticated missiles run the risk of what the military prefers to call “blue on blue” incidents, as there is nothing “friendly” about “friendly fire.”

Fortunately, the F/A-18’s ejection system was able to whisk the two crewmen safely away from the exploding missiles. Both crew members were recovered successfully. One crew member experienced minor injuries.

The aircraft involved in this blue-on-blue incident was based aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, the eighth of the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The plane had just launched on what was presumed to be yet another strike against the Houthi Rebel forces in Yemen when it was accidentally shot down. The Truman and its battle group are currently operating in the Red Sea, and have conducted several strikes against Houthi-related targets in Yemen since their recent arrival in the Southern Red Sea area.

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You Can’t Make This Up: U.S. Navy Shoots Down Its Own F/A-18 Super Hornet Fighter Jet in Apparent ‘Friendly Fire’ Incident in Red Sea

A U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser mistakenly shot down an American F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident.

The two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, had just launched from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.

The USS Gettysburg, part of the same carrier strike group, erroneously identified the aircraft as a hostile target and engaged it, leading to its destruction.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

The Navy’s Central Command confirmed that both pilots ejected safely, with one sustaining minor injuries.

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Deadly USS Liberty Attack Records Remain Secret – For Now

On November 21, 2024, Senior Judge Marsha J. Pechman of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington issued what seems likely to be her final order in Kinnucan v. National Security Agency et al. The order came more than four years after the federal case was first filed in September 2020. The suit was brought to obtain records the NSA, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency had failed to release despite a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests concerning the USS Liberty (AGTR-5).

On June 8, 1967 – three days after Israel initiated the Six-Day War by attacking Egypt – Israeli forces launched a combined aerial and naval assault on the Liberty. Lasting over an hour, the unprovoked attack killed 34 Americans and wounded more than 170 others. The Israeli government would claim that the attack was the result of mistaken identity. More than 57 years after the attack, the FOIA lawsuit revealed new details and, more importantly, it made it clear that the US government is still refusing to release hundreds of pages of documents concerning the assault.

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How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October

One year ago today Palestinian fighters led by Hamas launched an unprecedented military offensive out of the Gaza Strip.

The immediate goal was to inflict a shattering blow against Israel’s army bases and militarized settlements which have besieged Gaza’s inhabitants for decades – all of which are built on land that Palestinian families were expelled from in 1948.

The bigger goal was to shatter a status quo in which Israel, the United States and their accomplices believed they had effectively sidelined the Palestinian cause, and to bring that struggle for liberation back to the forefront of world attention.

“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” as Hamas called it, was, by any objective military measure, a stunning success.

It was said at Israel’s military headquarters that day that “the Gaza Division was overpowered,” a high-level source present later recalled to Israeli journalists. “These words still give me the chills.”

Covered from the air by armed drones and a barrage of rockets – which opened the offensive at 6:26 am exactly – Palestinian fighters launched a lightening raid over the Gaza boundary line.

The army bases were conquered for hours. Some of the settlements still had an armed Palestinian presence two days later.

The military communications infrastructure was instantly smashed. Simultaneous attacks took place by land, air and sea.

Palestinian drones took out tanks, guard posts and watchtowers.

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Israel Admits It Probably Killed Israeli Hostages in Gaza Airstrike in November

The Israeli military has admitted that one of its own airstrikes is likely responsible for killing three Israeli captives whose bodies were recovered from Gaza last year, confirming what Hamas officials had said about the hostages’ deaths at the time.

In a release on Sunday, the Israeli military said that an investigation into the deaths of the three captives found there was a “high probability” that they were killed by an Israeli strike carried out on November 10. This finding is based on the location of their bodies in relation to that of the strike and analysis of the strike itself. The military claims the strike targeted and killed a Hamas commander.

Two of the captives were soldiers, Corporal Nick Beiser and Sergeant Ron Sherman. The military also recovered the body of Eliya Toledano. They were all captured amid the October 7 attack, and their bodies were recovered in December.

At the time, Israeli forces told the captives’ families that they were killed by Hamas. But the results of the investigation confirms Hamas’s assertion that they were killed by the Israeli military.

Israeli forces have killed numerous hostages amid their genocide in Gaza, and released hostages have said that their top fear while in captivity was that they would be killed by Israeli strikes.

In December, Israeli forces shot and killed three Israeli captives who were traveling together in northern Gaza. Though the captives were shirtless and waving a white flag, Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. The military later claimed that the soldiers acted correctly to the best of their understanding, as they interpreted the captives’ cries for help as a ruse.

These captives could have been alive today if Israel had agreed to ceasefire agreements early on. Just days after Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza commenced, Hamas had offered to release all of the captives if the Israeli military didn’t enter Gaza, former political adviser and leader of an advocacy organization for the captives’ families Haim Rubinstein told Times of Israel earlier this year.

Since then, Israel has rejected ceasefire deal after ceasefire deal, with Israeli leaders openly expressing their contempt for the very idea of stopping their genocide in Gaza at any point. There is widespread unrest among Israelis for the government’s failure to secure a hostage release, but Israeli leaders’ actions in the ceasefire negotiations have made it clear that a hostage release is not a top priority for them.

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Yes it Was a “False Flag”, “Murder their Own Soldiers”. Israelis Widely Used “Hannibal Directive” on Oct. 7: Israeli Report

According to a source in the Israeli forces’ Southern Command, the region was designed to become a “killing zone,” while another commanded that “not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.”

Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that during Operation al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) routinely used a command that allowed soldiers to murder their own soldiers, namely the infamous Hannibal Directive.

The Israeli Air Force targeted at least three military facilities and outposts during the operation and the IOF opened fire on the walled separation barrier dividing Gaza and “Israel,” when Israelis were being taken captive.

According to a source in the Israeli Southern Command, the region was designed to become a “killing zone,” while another commanded that “not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.”

These instructions are known as the “Hannibal Directive,” requiring the IOF to take all measures to avoid the capture of Israeli soldiers, including murdering them.

Haaretz‘s investigation was based on records and testimony from troops, mid-level, and senior army commanders and data indicated that many taken captive were subjected to Israeli gunfire and “were in danger.”

According to Haaretz, Israeli commanders took decisions early on October 7 based on unverified intelligence with one source citing “crazy hysteria,” adding that “No one had a clue about the number of people kidnapped or where army forces were.”

An Israeli source told Haaretz that any person making a decision “knew that our combatants in the area could be hit as well.”

Another order directed all units to fire mortars against the Gaza Strip, despite the occupation’s feeble knowledge of the locations of soldiers and citizens. The order was expanded later to prohibit any vehicle from entering Gaza.

A source in the Southern Command told Haaretz that “Everyone knew by then that such vehicles could be carrying kidnapped civilians or soldiers,” adding that “everyone knew what it meant to not let any vehicles return to Gaza.”

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US military officials doubt Kiev’s version of F-16 downing

Ukrainian Lt. Col. Oleksiy Mes was paraded as someone who could change the war in Kiev’s favour by piloting the F-16 fighter jets but was quickly killed when engaging with the Russian military, as expected by all respectable sources. The official story is that he was killed in friendly fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, however, the New York Times reported, citing US military officials, that this was most likely not the case.

“The death of a widely celebrated pilot and the loss of one of the long-coveted fighter jets so soon after their deployment cast a pall over the battlefield just as the giddy first days of the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region were fading away and concerns mounted over an advancing Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine,” the outlet reported.

On August 29, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acknowledged the loss of an F-16 fighter jet transferred to Kiev and a special commission is investigating the causes of the accident. The Wall Street Journal previously wrote that the F-16 crashed due to pilot error, whilst Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuhla said that Ukraine’s Patriot air defence system shot down the F-16 due to a failure in coordination between units.

The New York Times reported that two senior US military officials said friendly fire was unlikely to have caused the F-16 crash. The publication did not specify what the statement was based on or mention their version of events of the fighter jet’s destruction. At the same time, the US military told the newspaper that American and Ukrainian investigators were considering many possible reasons for Kiev’s loss of the F-16.

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Friendly Fire or Defective Old Plane? How Ukraine Lost Its First F-16 Jet and Famed Pilot

One of the first Ukrainian F-16 jets crashed on August 26, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed on Thursday.

Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezuglaya claimed the F-16 was hit by Ukraine’s Patriot anti-aircraft missile system “due to a lack of coordination between units.”

When Were the First F-16s Delivered to Ukraine?

The first batch of six of the promised 80 F-16s arrived in Ukraine at the beginning of August.

It’s unclear who exactly provided the first batch: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway earlier vowed to provide the Kiev regime with them.

US President Joe Biden first authorized NATO’s European allies to send F-16s to Ukraine in August 2023.

How Much Does the F-16 Cost?

The US-made F-16 that was delivered to Ukraine can cost up to $60 million depending on the configuration and possible upgrades, according to some estimates.

As per the Wall Street Journal, many of the F-16s promised to Ukraine are second-hand and have decades of flying time already.

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Israeli army probe covered up “friendly fire” killings on 7 October

The Israeli army’s first published report about the events of 7 October 2023 praises the general who led Israeli forces in battle at Kibbutz Be’eri on that day for ordering tank fire at a home killing up to 10 civilian captives.

The shelling killed almost everyone in and around the house, including dozens of Palestinian resistance fighters.

The report amounts to a shoddy cover-up, inconsistent with known facts, and an intentional rewriting of what happened to exonerate Israeli forces of killing their own citizens that day.

Although the report was supposed to have been written by officers with no connection to those who fought in the battle, one of its authors was Lieutenant Colonel Elihai Bin Nun who fought at Be’eri on 7 October under Brigadier General Barak Hiram, the commander of Israeli forces at the kibbutz on that day, The New York Times revealed.

When Bin Nun’s participation in the battle was revealed, the army removed from the report any mention of his role as an author, the Israeli outlet Ynet noted.

The army’s full account of what happened at Kibutz Be’eri has not been made public, but the Israeli military published official summaries of its report in Hebrew and English on 11 July.

As a result of its inquiry, the army commends Hiram for acting in a “professional and ethical manner” by ordering the fatal tank fire. It whitewashes the civilian deaths the shelling caused, only accepting responsibility for one of the 13 captives killed at the home of kibbutz resident Pessi Cohen.

The army only admits to killing one civilian, Adi Dagan, as his death was directly witnessed by the only captive to survive the tank shelling, Adi’s wife Hadas Dagan.

The couple and four other Israeli civilians, including Pessi herself, spent the battle on the grassy lawn outside the home, lying low to avoid the hailstorm of bullets that whistled over their heads for hours.

While the army’s full account of the battle has not been made public, a detailed six-page synopsis of the report published by Israel Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh sheds further light on the events. It acknowledges that the number of civilians inside the house was seven.

In its first public explanation of the incident one week after the 7 October attack, the army asserted that not seven civilians had died in the house but 15 – and that eight of them were babies.

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