At approximately 1630 EST, initial reports indicated that a manned-U.S. aircraft crashed in the Eastern Mediterranean. U.S. officials confirmed to media that the crash was not due to hostile activity, but rather was an aviation mishap during a training evaluation. United States European Command issued a statement that it wouldn’t release further details out of respect for the families, indicating that the crew members were lost or possibly killed.
A US military aircraft conducting training operations in the eastern Mediterranean suffered a mishap and crashed last night, according to @US_EUCOM. “We can definitively say that the aircraft sortie was purely related to training and there are no indications of hostile activity.”
— Joseph Haboush (@jhaboush) November 11, 2023
A Notice to Mariners (NOTAM) has been issued for follow on search and rescue operations and an MH-60S helicopter was spotted on FlightRadar East of Cyprus:
Two U.S. carrier strike groups are operating in the Mediterranean Sea supporting Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. This aircraft was most likely one of the F/18s or F-35s operating from one of those carriers.
