Falcon Leap 2024, a major airborne exercise in Europe

C-130 and A400M cargo aircraft prepare to take off from Eindhoven Air Base, the Netherlands, during exercise Falcon Leap 2024.

Also this year, the annual exercise Falcon Leap took place again at the Dutch air base Eindhoven. In a period of two weeks, intensive training is given in dropping cargo and paratroopers at various locations in the Netherlands. This year, the exercise took place from Monday September 9, until Saturday September 21, 2024. The last day of the exercise is traditionally the ceremony on the Ginkelse Heide to commemorate Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne operation of the Second World War.

As the exercise has grown in recent years, the number of participants has increased significantly. All major European types of transport aircraft are involved in the exercise, such as the C-130H Hercules, the C-27J Spartan, the CASA C-295M and the Airbus A400M. The participating aircraft come from countries such as Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. The American participation consists only of C-130 Hercules aircraft from various units and variants. 

“It is quite special to see how this exercise came about in the past. Falcon Leap was actually created with the idea of Operation Market Garden in mind. The exercise was created with the idea of practicing with as many paratroopers from different countries as possible in one week and jumping together in order to contribute to the commemoration. But in recent years, and certainly in the past few years, the exercise has really grown into a large airborne exercise that is unparalleled in Europe,” said Lieutenant Linda Lauret of the Dutch Air Force, who is leading the exercise. 

Falcon Leap is an exercise of the 11th Airmobile Brigade, which is the main part of the exercise, and in addition there is a Mobility part. The ‘Mobility’ side is led by Lauret and is in principle supportive to the Airmobile Brigade. This army component cannot of course practice if it does not have the right flying assets to carry out the exercises. One party cannot do without the other party. This collaboration is not unique within Defense, because there are multiple exercises and scenarios in which different defense components are interwoven during the deployment.

Since Falcon Leap has grown enormously, the objective has also changed considerably. Where in the past only parachute jumping was central in preparation for the Market Garden commemoration, this is different today. The exercise has grown into an important training in the field of modern airborne deployment and cargo droppings. That this type of training is necessary became clear through the use of Dutch transport aircraft for such missions in the Middle East. 

Text and Photos by Joris van Boven and Alex van Noije