Department has 'no records' of missile flight

Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s department has “no records” about a United States Air Force missile carrier that used Irish sovereign airspace earlier this month on its way to Israel.

These military aircraft require diplomatic clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs for the use of Irish airspace.

The missile carrier transports missile systems, one of which the US controversially deployed to Israel, as reported by The Ditch last week. 

The US embassy in Dublin won’t say if the US sought diplomatic clearance to fly the military aircraft – suspected of carrying the THAAD missile system to Israel – through Irish territory. 

The military plane came from one of just two US mainland bases housing the THAAD missile system now being operated in Israel. The same plane, same registration number, was recently pictured being loaded with missile launchers at a US military base.

'No records'

On 16 October 2024, flight RCH700 left Fort Cavazos Military Reservation in Texas headed for Portsmouth International Airport, a civilian and military airport on the US east coast.  

The plane is a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster with the registration number 04-4129.

The US air base it left, Fort Cavazos, is one of two US mainland bases for the THAAD missile system, according to a US Congress report published last week. The US government controversially deployed the system to Israel earlier this month. 

It entered Irish sovereign airpsace just after midnight last Thursday, 17 October off the coast of county Cork, on its way to Israel's Nevatim air base

The Ditch asked the Department of Foreign Affairs if tánaiste Micheál Martin had given diplomatic clearance for the flight to use Irish sovereign airspace.

“The Department has reviewed its records and can confirm that no records are held in relation to the flight,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

It is an indictable criminal offence for foreign military aircraft to use Ireland’s sovereign airspace without permission from the minister for foreign affairs under Irish air navigation law.

The United States embassy in Dublin declined to comment when asked if diplomatic clearance was sought from the tánaiste.