Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put rock star Kid Rock in the seat of a £75 million ($100 million) US Army attack helicopter on 28 April 2026, less than a month after military pilots were suspended for buzzing the same celebrity's Tennessee home during a nationwide anti-Trump protest.
Hegseth and Kid Rock, whose legal name is Robert Ritchie, both flew in AH-64 Apache attack helicopters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell framing the flights as a Freedom 250 community relations event tied to America's 250th anniversary commemoration.
