(3 Jul 1988) A U.S. warship fighting gunboats in the Persian Gulf mistook an Iranian civilian jetliner for an attacking Iranian F14 fighter plane and blew it out of the sky with a heat-seeking missile,The USS Vincennes, a cruiser equipped with the most sophisticated radar and electronic battle gear in the Navy's surface arsenal, tracked the oncoming plane electronically, warned it to keep away, and when it did not fired two Standard surface-to-air missiles. Navy officials said the Vincennes' combat teams believed the airliner to be an Iranian F14 jet fighter. No visual contact was made with the aircraft until it was struck and blew up about six miles from the Vincennes.
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