Two EA-18G Growler electronic-warfare jets collided mid-air during the Mountain Home Air Force Base airshow on Sunday afternoon, forcing both pilots to eject and sending debris across the Idaho flight line, according to idahonews.com.
The mishap occurred at approximately 1:20 p.m. local time while the U.S. Navy aircraft were performing a coordinated maneuver before an estimated 85,000 spectators. Both aviators activated their ejection seats and parachuted to safety; base fire crews extinguished small grass fires ignited by falling wreckage within 15 minutes, the outlet reported. No civilian injuries were logged, and the base’s single runway reopened for departures by 6:45 p.m. after an emergency closure.
Mountain Home hosts one of the last large-scale military airshows in the western United States, drawing aviation enthusiasts and defense contractors who use the event to showcase next-generation jamming pods and radar systems. The EA-18G, built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, is the Pentagon’s primary airborne electronic-attack platform; each airframe costs roughly $67 million, according to U.S. Navy budget documents cited by idahonews.com. A similar mid-air collision involving two F-16s at Nellis AFB in 2022 grounded the Thunderbirds for three months and triggered a fleet-wide safety review.
The Naval Safety Command has dispatched an investigation team expected to arrive Monday morning, idahonews.com noted. Base officials said the remainder of the weekend airshow has been canceled, and the Navy intends to release a preliminary timeline for the mishap inquiry within 72 hours. Observers should watch for a follow-on safety stand-down order that could affect upcoming Growler deployments aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, scheduled to leave Bremerton later this month.