From September 4 to 15, 2023, the exercise Falcon Leap was held from Eindhoven Air Base. It was organized by 11 Air Mobile Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army. The transport aircraft of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the Royal Netherlands Air Force provided air transport together with international partners. International cooperation with 12 different countries was the focus during this exercise. The training is necessary so that the countries are ready for deployment together not only today, but also tomorrow.
The first week at Twente they trained with so-called Tactical Air-Land Operations (TALO), such as various approaches, landings and touch-and-go's with a C-130 Hercules among others. Last Wednesday, Twente Airport acted as a Departure AirField (DAF). Paras boarded at Twente and were dropped elsewhere.
Since the closure of Twente Air Base, the Ministry of Defense still occasionally uses the airport for (combined) exercises. During these exercises, several ground and air units of Defense work together. Due to the nature of the exercises, Defense is looking for "shielded" locations to train independently. Twente Airport meets those conditions. Exercises such as these are necessary to keep the skills of Defense personnel up to date. Defense contributes worldwide to peace, freedom and security and protects what we hold dear. As an airport, we are therefore pleased to be able to contribute in this way to the training of Defense personnel.
