The US and Malaysia signed a pact solidifying bilateral defense ties, underscoring a commitment to security in the disputed South China Sea.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth oversaw the signing of the memorandum of understanding with his counterpart on Thursday during a visit to the Southeast Asian nation for a regional defense summit.

Navy helicopter and fighter jet from USS Nimitz crash in South China Sea during routine operations. All five crew members successfully rescued and stable.

A US Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both crashed in the same half-hour on Sunday during separate routine operations over the South China Sea, with all crew members safely rescued, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said.

According to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter that was assigned to the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 "Battle Cats" crashed around 2:45 p.m. local time while "conducting routine operations." All three crew members were rescued, the Pacific Fleet said in an X post.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is in Malaysia for bilateral meetings with Southeast Asian defense leaders to bolster security ties in light of China's growing assertiveness. Discussions include U.

All personnel were safe and in stable condition, after a Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both went down in the South China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

"It's certainly unusual to have two on the same day," Matthew Savill, from the RUSI think tank, told Newsweek.

All personnel involved were safe, and the causes of the two crashes were under investigation, the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet said.

A US fighter jet and a helicopter crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other on Sunday. The F/A-18F Super Hornet and MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, both based off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, went down in separate incidents while “conducting routine operations”, said the US navy’s Pacific Fleet.