US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's plane forced to land after reporting cracked windshield

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in the UK after suffering a cracked windshield, according to the Pentagon.

Hegseth was heading back to the US from Belgium when the incident occurred off southern Ireland. The plane reported the 7700 code, indicating a general emergency, lowered its altitude to 10,000 feet and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, according to data on Flightaware.com.

Hegseth was returning home after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

“The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.

The decades-old government planes that ferry US cabinet secretaries, vice presidents and first ladies around the world are prone to breakdown. Early in the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plane was forced to return to Washington because of a cracked windshield shortly after takeoff.

The plane carrying Hegseth is a Boeing Co. C-32, a modified 757-200 passenger jet, and is nearly 30 years old.