Military exercises

Exercise Royal Air Force from September 8 to 19, 2025

From September 8 to 19, the international military airborne exercise Falcon Leap will take place from Eindhoven Air Base. During this exercise, organized by 11 Air Mobile Brigade (Royal Netherlands Army), transport aircraft of the Air Mobility Command (Royal Netherlands Air Force) provide airborne transport together with international partners. They are training the dropping of cargo and paratroopers. The military aircraft are flying over our municipality this period, flying lower than normal. They are therefore extra visible and audible. For the pilots, training low flying is very important and thus an essential part of the exercise. A recent example is the dropping of food parcels over Gaza.

Learn more about Falcon Leap in this video, among others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWmlFmqUouY&list=PLGp0FkX5po1BjimliOyhth6H2m8h6c6ia&index=9

Press Release Royal Air Force

From September 8 to 19, 2025, the international airborne exercise Falcon Leap will be held from Eindhoven Air Base. The exercise is organized by 11 Air Mobile Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army. The transport aircraft of the Air Mobility Command will provide the airborne transport together with international partners.

During this exercise, international cooperation with eight different countries will be central. On Saturday, September 20, 2025, a number of aircraft will take part in the annual commemoration of Operation Market Garden on the Ginkelse Heide near Ede. 

During the first week of this exercise, Container Delivery System [CDS] drops and personnel will be practiced in an international context. Dropping cargo is an important task of the Air Mobility Command, with the Air Mobile Brigade responsible for preparing these cargo packages. A recent example is the dropping of relief supplies over Gaza. Exercises such as Falcon Leap are important to continue performing these types of missions in the future. The second week of the exercise is dedicated to dropping both Dutch and foreign paratroopers with aircraft from different countries. During this exercise we take off and land again at Eindhoven Air Base, also Twente Airport is used and the Ginkelse Heide and Marnewaard are used as drop zones.

During the flights to the exercise sites, the aircraft fly lower than normal, making them more visible and audible. Low flying is an important part of the exercise for the pilots. During this exercise, there will be flown in two blocks. The times are expected to be as follows: 13:00 - 17:00 and 19:00 - 23:00. It should be noted that these times may change due to various circumstances. Therefore, we advise everyone to follow the X account of Eindhoven Air Base @VlbEindhoven. Here the times of the flights are communicated daily.

For the safety of spectators and paratroopers, the exact times and locations of parachute jumps are not released.
Military exercises are carefully prepared. This is essential for the practicing units, but also to relieve the environment of the exercise sites as much as possible. People may still experience inconvenience during this exercise. Any reports can be submitted via the complaint form at www.luchtmacht.nl/geluidshinder.

If you would like to know more about flight movements, see www.luchtmacht.nl/vliegbewegingen.