U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urges Southeast Asian nations to strengthen their maritime forces to counter China's actions in the South China Sea.

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

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth called on Southeast Asia to strengthen cooperation in maritime surveillance including the use of unmanned technologies to counter what he said was worsening aggression by Beijing in the South China Sea.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Saturday that its forces staged naval and air drills with counterparts from the United States, Australia and New Zealand from Thursday to Friday in the disputed South China Sea.

Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theater Command, said the joint patrol, with unnamed partners, "seriously undermined regional peace and stability".

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.

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