An F18 Fighter Jet Just Fell Off The USS Harry S. Truman - Here's How Much It Cost

In a freak accident, a U.S. Navy F18 Super Hornet fighter jet (also called the F/A-18 Super Hornet) was lost at sea after it fell off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The U.S. Navy confirmed the incident and revealed that the aircraft in question was an F/A-18E variant of Super Hornet. According to CNN, the lost F18 jet was inside the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier, in a state of tow at the time of the incident. The F18 fighter jet, however, was not the only thing lost at sea during the incident. A tow tractor, which was used to tow the affected plane, was also lost. There are no reports of casualties, and the Navy has confirmed that all the people on board the ship have been accounted for, and remain safe. One sailor, however, suffered a minor injury. 

CNN adds that the incident happened in the Red Sea near the Middle East, where the Truman Carrier Strike Group has been deployed for the past several months. The report also indicated that a sudden evasive hard turn executed by the USS Harry S Truman may have contributed to the incident after the carrier was fired at by Yemen's Houthi Rebels. Despite the loss of the fighter jet, the strike group's ability to conduct missions remains unaffected, the U.S. Navy confirms.

While no lives were lost in this incident, there is no denying the fact that this was an expensive mishap. Estimates put the total cost of a single F18 aircraft exceeding $60 million. Adding the loss of the tow truck, we can expect the total loss to easily go past the $60 million mark.

As bizarre as it may sound, the 2025 incident resulting in the loss of the $60 million F18 fighter jet is not the first time this has happened on an aircraft carrier. In July 2022, another F18 was lost at sea after it was "blown overboard" from the same aircraft carrier — the USS Harry S. Truman — in "unexpected" bad weather.

In this instance, however, the U.S. Navy was able to retrieve the aircraft from the sea using a remotely operated vehicle known as the CURV-21. The salvage operation was performed nearly a month after the incident — 27 days, to be precise. Following the recovery, the affected aircraft was sent to a U.S. airbase, from where it was transported back to the United States.

It remains unclear whether the Navy has plans to do the same with the aircraft involved in the latest incident. Given that the Truman Carrier Strike Group is near hostile waters, any recovery attempt might turn out to be a challenging task. The 2025 incident is unique in that the F18 aircraft involved was near the aircraft carrier's hangar when it fell off the ship. Most other incidents that had planes falling into the ocean involved extreme weather conditions/heavy seas or landing and take-off mishaps.