US missile carrier flew through Irish territory to Israel

A United States Air Force missile carrier – used to transport missile systems, one of which the US controversially deployed to Israel last week – flew through Irish territory four days ago on its way to an Israeli air base.

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

Military aircraft require permission from the minister for foreign affairs to enter Irish sovereign airspace, under Irish air navigation law. The Department of Foreign Affairs wouldn't comment when asked if tánaiste Micheál Martin had permitted this aircraft to fly through Irish sovereign airspace.

The latest revelations come after The Ditch reported that dozens of civilian airline flights transported Israel-bound weapons over Ireland since at least 2021.

One of two bases for US missile system

Last Wednesday, 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 recently deployed the system to Israel. 

The same plane that made this journey – through Irish territory – was pictured in April this year being loaded with a missile launcher at an air base in Washington. 

On this October trip the plane stayed six hours at Portsmouth International Airport – around 100 kilometres north of Boston – before heading across the Atlantic.

Shortly after midnight last Thursday, 17 October, the plane entered Irish sovereign airspace off the coast of county Cork – three days after footage emerged of children being burnt alive in Gaza after an Israeli bomb attack. 

Less than a day after arriving for a pitstop at Ramstein United States military base in Germany, the plane – which had been about 10 kilometres inside Irish sovereign airspace the morning before – left for Israel. 

The aircraft entered Israeli airspace in the early hours of Friday, 18 October and stopped transmitting its location around 35 kilometres north of Nevatim air base, where it landed. 

Less than two hours later it was in the air again on its way back to the US.