{"id":393969,"date":"2026-04-11T23:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/393969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T23:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:54:15","slug":"man-allegedly-attacks-us-military-plane-with-hatchet-at-shannon-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/393969\/","title":{"rendered":"Man allegedly attacks US military plane with hatchet at Shannon Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">A man was detained Saturday at Shannon Airport in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/world\/world-regions\/ireland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ireland<\/a> after allegedly climbing onto the wing of a U.S. military aircraft and attacking it with a hatchet, according to local reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Irish police, or Garda\u00ed, said a man in his 40s entered an unauthorized area of the airport in County Clare and was arrested shortly before 11 a.m. on suspicion of criminal damage. Investigations are ongoing, Garda\u00ed said.<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft involved was a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane that had been parked on a remote taxiway, Irish news outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/us-aircraft-shannon-attacked-7009833-Apr2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Journal<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>Video circulating online appeared to show a man in dark clothing walking along the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/military\/air-force\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">wing of the aircraft<\/a> during the incident. He moved across the wing near the engines and fuselage.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/jordanian-national-arrested-after-boarding-flight-arizona-invalid-ticket-prompting-evacuation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">JORDANIAN NATIONAL ARRESTED AFTER BOARDING FLIGHT IN ARIZONA WITH INVALID TICKET, PROMPTING EVACUATION<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/us-air-force-c130-hercules-file-photo.jpeg\" alt=\"U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft on runway in England file photo\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft on the ground at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, March 18, 2026. (Leon Neal\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>The breach raises renewed concerns about security at Shannon Airport, which has experienced multiple recent incidents involving unauthorized access to restricted areas.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Shannon Airport said the airport temporarily shut down operations after the breach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The airport suspended operations at approximately 9:50 a.m., and operations resumed at 10:15 a.m.,&#8221; the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/jordanian-national-arrested-after-boarding-flight-arizona-invalid-ticket-prompting-evacuation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">JORDANIAN NATIONAL ARRESTED AFTER BOARDING FLIGHT IN ARIZONA WITH INVALID TICKET, PROMPTING EVACUATION<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The brief closure caused minor disruption, with two departing flights delayed and one incoming aircraft placed in a holding pattern before landing shortly after 10:20 a.m., The Journal reported.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities, including airport police, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Garda\u00ed and Irish Defence Forces personnel<\/a> responded, The Journal reported. Armed officers and specialist units were also deployed.<\/p>\n<p>Officials carried out a search of the airport perimeter to determine how the suspect gained access to the restricted area.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/travel\/bullet-discovered-commercial-jet-major-airport-sparks-security-scare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">BULLET DISCOVERED ON COMMERCIAL JET AT MAJOR AIRPORT SPARKS SECURITY SCARE<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/us-air-force-plane-shannon-airport-ireland-file.jpeg\" alt=\"U.S. Air Force plane on runway at Shannon Airport Ireland file photo\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A U.S. Air Force transport aircraft sits on the runway at Shannon Airport in County Clare, Ireland, during a security operation for the arrival of President Donald Trump. (Niall Carson\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>According to The Journal, the incident is the latest in a string of recent security breaches at Shannon Airport.<\/p>\n<p>In November, three people were arrested after a van breached airport security and entered a restricted area. In May, another vehicle crashed through a perimeter fence, forcing a temporary shutdown. Weeks later, three women were arrested after allegedly accessing the airfield and damaging an aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have not said whether Saturday\u2019s incident is linked to those prior breaches.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/trump-air-force-one-arrival-shannon-airport-ireland-2019.jpeg\" alt=\"Donald Trump and Melania Trump exit Air Force One at Shannon Airport Ireland 2019\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arriving at Shannon Airport in Ireland aboard Air Force One. (Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Shannon Airport has been the site of frequent anti-war protests for years over its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/military\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">use by the U.S. military<\/a>, dating back to the Iraq War era.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital reached out to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/tech\/topics\/us-air-force\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">U.S. Air Forces in Europe<\/a> for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.<\/p>\n<p>You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A man was detained Saturday at Shannon Airport in Ireland&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4323,61,60,8874,43,107253,174446,21792],"class_list":{"0":"post-393969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-airports","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-odd-news","14":"tag-us-air-force","15":"tag-vandalism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}