Pentagon

The U.S. Air Force on June 23 temporarily halted flights at a Florida air base of 26 F-35A fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp after a jet caught fire as it was preparing to take off for a training flight, a Pentagon spokesman said. 

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will pay a visit to Romania on Thursday at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart Mircea Dusa, on which occasion the American official will also meet with Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Pentagon officials have announced the USS Vella Gulf, a US warship, will reach the Black Sea later this week as part of maneuvers showing support for Ukraine.

Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby was quoted by the Huffington Post as saying that the US also aimed to reassure its European allies that Washington is committed to their security, as tensions between Kiev and Moscow remain.

After two decades of trying to build a partnership with Russia, NATO now feels compelled to start treating Moscow as an adversary, NATO's second ranking official said Thursday. 

The USA will send around 600 troops to Poland and the Baltic States for infantry exercises, said the Pentagon. 

According to Rear Admiral John Kirby, this is in response to Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

The first contingent of 150 soldiers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Italy, will arrive in Poland on Wednesday to conduct infantry exercises. 

US military dolphins and sea lions are due to participate in NATO's summer naval exercises in the Black Sea, a report by the newspaper Izvestia has suggested.

Speaking for the Russian edition, a spokesman for the US Navy's marine mammals program allegedly made the announcement.

A Russian attack plane engaged in “provocative” acts Saturday towards the destroyer USS Donald Cook in international waters, the Pentagon informed on Monday evening.

US Destroyer Donald Cook is to enter the Black Sea on April 10, Pentagon officials said.

The news came days after the White House announced its plans to extend the Black Sea mission of USS Truxtun, the first destroyer it sent there in March, and to deploy additional vessels.

The US Pentagon is sending additional 175 marines to Romania in an effort to strengthen its force of more than 300 marines already deployed in the country.

The US is sending a second destroyer into the Black Sea as a gesture of support for Ukraine and other allies.

A US senior defense official was quoted by NBC News as saying that the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer based in Spain, could be in the Black Sea "in the next week or so".