US military plane damaged after man breaks into Ireland airport and attacks aircraft with hatchet

Oliver Trapnell
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:40:17 +0000

A US military plane has been damaged after a man broke into an airport and attacked the aircraft.

The alarm was raised at 9.45am this morning after a man was seen in a restricted area of Shannon Airport, Ireland.

The intruder, who is understood to be male, climbed onto the wing of the US Air Force C130 Hercules transport aircraft which was parked on a remote taxiway.

He is then reported to have attacked the fuselage and wing of the $160million plane with a hatchet.

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One source told the Irish Journal the plane suffered 'extensive' damage as a result of the attack.

First responders were forced to use mobile stairs to reach and subsequently detain the attacker.

He was then arrested and taken into custody within 30 minutes of the break-in.

A spokesperson for Shannon Airport Group confirmed operations have now resumed.

"The airport suspended operations at approximately 9.50am and resumed operations at 10.15am," the spokesman said.

Police officers and fire and rescue service operators belonging to the airport initially responded to the incident before gardaí and Irish Defence Forces personnel who were on duty at the airport at the time assisted.

Additional uniformed gardaí and armed detectives later attended the scene.

Two flights, which were due to depart from the airport at the time, were delayed while one arriving aircraft was directed to fly in a holding pattern.

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The arriving flight was cleared for landing approximately 20 minutes later and landed at 10.22am.

An investigation has been launched by airport police officers to establish how the man breached the perimeter and have subsequently launched a patrol of facility's border.

Google Street View images of the airport's perimeter show just a single 6ft barbed wire-topped fence separating one publicly accessible road from the airfield.

A Gardai spokesman told GB News: "On Saturday, April 11, an adult male entered an unauthorised area of Shannon Airport, Shannon, Co. Clare.

"An adult male (aged in his 40s) was arrested for alleged criminal damage by Gardaí shortly before 11am and is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 in a Garda Station in the Clare Tipperary Division.

"Investigations are ongoing."

According to data collected by military plane tracker Shannonwarport at the end of March, at least 1,300 US military and military-contracted civilian aircraft have flown within 60km (37 miles) of Shannon Airport since January 2024.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have regularly held demonstrations outside the airport demanding that the Irish government inspect US military and military-contracted planes for weapons destined for Israel.

The incident comes just months after Palestine Action protesters staged a break-in at RAF Brize Norton and damaged two Voyager aircraft.