A US government aircraft carrying Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, declared an emergency over the Atlantic and was forced to divert to an RAF base in Suffolk.
Half an hour into the flight returning to America from a Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Belgium, Hegseth’s jet started emitting distress calls after depressurisation was detected due to a crack in its windscreen.
The Boeing C-32A, a military version of the Boeing 757, was forced to change course to RAF Mildenhall.
The aircraft was followed by a Boeing KC-135T Stratotanker — a US Air Force aerial refuelling and transport aircraft.
Sean Parnell, Hegseth’s senior adviser and the chief Pentagon spokesman, wrote: “On the way back to the United States from Nato’s defence ministers’ meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth’s plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield.
“The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe.”
Fifteen minutes later Hegseth reposted the announcement, saying that the journey was back on course and everyone was safe.
He said: “All good. Thank God. Continue Mission!”
John Foreman, a former UK defence attaché to Moscow and Kyiv, commented on the original post, inviting Hegseth to the pub for bingo night. He wrote: “Does he want to come down to our village pub for bingo night? It’s only 15 miles away.”
Despite being a Royal Air Force outpost, the site is mostly used by United States Air Force operations.