Direct proof of use
The F-35 Lightning II is documented in the 2023 Red Sea Crisis through U.S. Marine Corps F-35C operations from USS Abraham Lincoln. U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reported that F-35C aircraft assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 conducted the platform's first F-35C combat air strikes on November 9-10, 2024.
The same official account said VMFA-314, assigned to Carrier Air Wing 9 aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, carried out multiple strikes against Houthi weapons-storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. It described the facilities as storing conventional weapons, including anti-ship missiles, used against U.S. and international military and civilian vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Sources: NAVCENT F-35C Houthi Strikes, DVIDS F-35C Combat Strikes
Timeline
On November 9, 2024, U.S. Navy imagery tied to the deployment showed F-35C flight operations aboard USS Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The F-35C strike account covers the November 9-10 period.
On November 18 and 20, 2024, U.S. military public-affairs channels released the account of the strikes, identifying VMFA-314, Carrier Air Wing 9, USS Abraham Lincoln, Houthi weapons-storage facilities in Yemen, and the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping-threat context.
Sources: NAVCENT F-35C Houthi Strikes, DVIDS F-35C Combat Strikes, DVIDS Abraham Lincoln Flight Operations
Narrative
The documented F-35 use was a U.S. carrier-based strike role rather than a Houthi possession or transfer case. The public record identifies the variant as the F-35C, the operator as U.S. Marine Corps VMFA-314, and the launch platform as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
The targets publicly identified in the official release were storage facilities for Houthi conventional weapons, including anti-ship missiles. The release connected those weapons to attacks on military and civilian vessels navigating international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, placing the F-35C strikes within the U.S.-led effort to degrade Houthi maritime-strike capacity during the crisis.
The available official reporting does not identify the exact munitions released by the F-35Cs, the individual target coordinates, or post-strike battle-damage assessment. Those details are therefore not included in this record.
Sources: NAVCENT F-35C Houthi Strikes, DVIDS F-35C Combat Strikes
