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U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to the press at the NATO headquarters prior to a NATO Ministers of Defence Summit in Brussels on Oct. 15, 2025. Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
The plane carrying Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was forced to make an emergency landing at a joint U.K.-U.S. airbase in the United Kingdom after the plane’s windscreen cracked Oct. 15.
The secretary was traveling back to the United States from Brussels at the time of the incident. He had attended a NATO meeting with allies to discuss members meeting their financial commitment and support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X that the “unscheduled landing” was “based on standard procedures.”
All aboard the plane are safe, he said. It was unclear what cracked the windscreen.
Hegseth replied on X, “All good. Thank God. Continue mission!”
According to FlightRadar24, which tracks air traffic in real time, the plane left Brussels, then did a U-turn while off the southwest coast of Ireland after dropping in altitude to 10,000 feet, a standard emergency altitude. At the time, the plane broadcast the emergency squawk code, 7700, on its transponder.
The plane, C-32A, is one of the Air Force’s modified Boeing 757-200s specially configured as a military version to transport U.S. leaders. When used to transport the vice president, these planes are known as “Air Force 2.” The planes are also used to transport members of the Cabinet and Congress, and even the first lady. The planes can also occasionally serve as “Air Force One” for presidential trips to small airports.
A replacement program for these planes was launched in 2018, as the jets are now well into the last half of their service lives. However, funding was cut by the Biden administration in 2021 in favor of funding research into next-generation supersonic and hypersonic passenger aircraft.
According to the California Aeronautical University, the 7700 code is used to indicate any kind of emergency on board. It lets ground control know to prepare the runway and emergency services for an aircraft or passengers experiencing a serious issue, such as mechanical, technical, or medical emergencies that may require ground assistance.
“Descents down to 10,000 often indicate an issue with aircraft pressurization,” FlightRadar24 said in a post on X.
The plane was diverted to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England—a UK Royal Air Force station that is primarily operated by the U.S. Air Force under joint UK-U.S. control. The base, one of the most important in Europe, supports aerial refueling, intelligence, and special operations missions.
In February, an Air Force plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), was also diverted due to a problem with the cockpit windshield.
Their plane was forced to return to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland 90 minutes into the flight. The pair then continued their scheduled travels to Germany and the Middle East in another aircraft.
