Footage shows the man on top of a C-130 Hercules, striking it with what appears to be a hatchet or a hammer at Shannon Airport
A man has been arrested after breaching security at Ireland’s Shannon Airport and damaging a US military aircraft, in an incident that briefly shut down operations and reignited scrutiny of Washington’s long-running use of the facility.
Footage circulating online appears to show the intruder climbing onto a US Air Force C-130 Hercules parked on a remote taxiway at the County Clare airport. Some reports said he was wielding an axe, hatchet or a hammer as he struck the aircraft, though police have so far only confirmed an arrest for alleged criminal damage.
According to the Gardai, the suspect, a man in his 40s, entered an unauthorized area of the airport on Saturday morning and was arrested shortly before 11:00am under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. The response involved airport police, Shannon Airport’s fire and rescue service, and Irish defence forces stationed on site.
𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 | A protester breached the airside perimeter at Shannon Airport in Ireland, climbed onto the wing of a parked US Air Force C-130 Hercules and damaged the aircraft with what is believed to be a hammer, temporarily taking it out of service and forcing a brief airport… pic.twitter.com/PD9M9ftkry
The breach forced Shannon to suspend operations, with two departing flights delayed and an incoming aircraft from Lourdes, France, placed in a holding pattern before the airport resumed normal operations at 10:15am.
It remains unclear whether the attack was motivated by the US campaign against Iran, but Shannon Airport has seen repeated incursions linked to opposition to the airport’s role as a refueling and transit point for US military traffic.
In January 2003, anti-war activist Mary Kelly used an axe to damage a US military aircraft at the airport in protest over the looming invasion of Iraq. Security was tightened immediately after that attack. Just days later, on 3 February 2003, the Pitstop Ploughshares group entered Shannon and damaged a US Navy aircraft in another anti-war action.
In a more recent incident in November 2025, three activists allegedly drove a van into a restricted area, approached a parked US military plane, and spray-painted a US Navy Reserve Boeing 737-700, forcing another shutdown. Months earlier, three women were arrested after breaching the perimeter and throwing red paint over a US-linked aircraft.
