Parnell said: “On the way back to the United States from NATO’s Defense 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.”
Mr Hegseth renamed his position from US Secretary of Defence to Secretary of War earlier this year.
The aviation news website Airlive reported that the Boeing C-32A – a military version of the Boeing 757 – was about 30 minutes into the flight when it suffered a “depressurisation issue”.
It went on to land at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk at about 7.10pm.
Mr Hegseth had been attending a meeting of Nato defence ministers which was also attended by UK Defence Secretary John Healey.