<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom because a windshield cracked on a flight back to the US from a NATO meeting and all aboard are safe, the Pentagon said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The plane landed “based on standard procedures,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After Hegseth left Brussels, open source flight trackers spotted his C-32 lose altitude and begin broadcasting an emergency signal.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/terry-phillips-jailed-for-assaulting-former-partner-deported-from-australia-after-plea-to-home-affairs-minister/3b109840-9dc3-4109-a6df-731c7df3889f" rel="" target="" title="Violent British national deported from Australia after ex-partner's plea"><strong><span>Violent British national deported from Australia after ex-partner's plea</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>No members of the Pentagon press corps were travelling with Hegseth, as was regular practice under previous defence secretaries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Instead, Pentagon reporters were emptying their desks and cleaning out their workspaces after rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In February, an Air Force C-32 carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, was similarly forced to return to Washington after an issue with the cockpit windshield.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/hegseths-plane-diverted-to-uk-due-to-cracked-windshield-on-flight-from-brussels-to-us/39f210d6-093c-4529-8b0c-ebb9569f38f9" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The incident occurred about 90 minutes after the flight took off from Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The C-32, a specially configured version of the Boeing 757-200 commercial airplane, transports U.S. leaders, including the vice president, first lady and members of the Cabinet and Congress.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/Z8tJCf"><strong><span>Sign up here</span></strong></a><strong><span> to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.</span></strong></div></div>