Operation Market Garden
On September 17, 1944 the Allies started operation Market Garden, the largest airborne offensive to free the Netherlands from German occupation. Under blue skies almost 35,000 paratroopers landed by parachute or glider to capture the important bridges over the three rivers in the Netherlands. 80 years later the Netherlands commemorated the operation under similar weather circumstances. Transport aircraft from nine nations dropped paratroopers at the Ginkelse heath near the city of Anrhem. The droppings were the grand finale of the two weeks long exercise Falcon Leap.
Falcon Leap past and present
The exercise Falcon Leap is the yearly largest international airborne exercise in the Netherlands. Organized for the ninth time, the exercise ran from 9 until 21 September under the supervision of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) 336 Squadron “Blackbulls of the Air Mobility Command (AMC) at Eindhoven airbase.
Originally the yearly commemoration of operation Market Garden led to increased activities with paratroopers and aircraft at Eindhoven airbase to support the drops over the original landing zones. With the increasing cost reductions for the different armed forces the enthusiasm to participate decreased. In order to improve the learning value for the participating nations the decision was made to expand the dropping activities to a week-long airborne exercise. More recently the exercise was further expanded to two weeks.
Twelve nations participated in Falcon Leap 2024: The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America with personnel. However, Belgium, France and Italy did not provide air capacity.
Air mission commander for the 2024 edition was Captain Preij, C-130H pilot in the 336 Squadron. He explains: “The Falcon Leap exercise is spread out over two weeks. The first week the participating aircraft from the USA, Romania and the Netherlands practiced together with around 250-300 troops of the Royal Netherlands Army 11th Air Mobility Brigade (AMB). In the second week the exercise was expanded to cooperation with foreign troops and aircraft from different countries . In the last phase of the exercise on Thursday and Friday around 1000 paratroopers from different countries practiced jumps from different aircraft. “
Objectives of Falcon Leap 2024
Falcon Leap 2024 had several key objectives aimed at boosting NATO’s operational readiness and multinational cooperation. The exercise emphasized:
1. Enhancing Readiness: Ensuring that NATO and partner nations are prepared to respond swiftly to various crises, from defense operations to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
2. Fostering Multinational Cooperation: Reinforcing the importance of shared security responsibilities, Falcon Leap fosters stronger ties between NATO members and partner nations.
3. Improving Operational Proficiency: Forces trained in diverse scenarios, learning how to overcome challenges posed by different terrains, weather conditions, and simulated hostile environments.
4. Advancing Air Mobility Innovation: As air mobility continues to evolve with new technologies, Falcon Leap 2024 showcased tactical airlifts using modernized transport aircraft, advanced communication systems, and real-time data sharing to enhance decision-making
In the first week two missions were flown daily, in the second week the first three days one mission was flown, the last two days three missions. The last days are the so-called ‘cross para days’, where paratroopers from country A, use the parachutes of country B and fly the aircraft of country C, earning the paratroopers their parawing.
Training program
The first week of Falcon Leap was dominated by tactical formation flying and the dropping of paratroopers and cargo. The cargo is dropped by means of a Cargo Delivery System (CDS), where pallets fall out of the aircraft using a rail system. Participating aircraft were two RNLAF C-130s, two USAF (H)C-130s and a Romanian C27J Spartan. Main goal was to train the inter-operability between different nations and air- and land units. The training village Marnehuizen at the border of the provinces Friesland and Groningen close to the Wadden Sea was used both as dropping zone and training target for the paratroopers. The village is normally used by the armed forces to train troops for combat in the built environment.
In the second week the number of participating aircraft increased with a Greek C27J Spartan, CN295s from Spain and Portugal, C-130s from the Montana ANG, USA and Greece and German and English A400M aircraft.
Air assault
For this years edition air assault training was added to the training program. The former airbase Twenthe in the east of the Netherlands and Leeuwarden airbase in the north were used for the tactical training. At both bases the aircraft practiced so-called airland operations, where the aircraft landed at the base and simulated engine running offload of vehicles and troops, offering the possibility for rapid departure.
For the exercise the aircraft were allowed to fly at lower altitudes than normal, flying at around 200-500 feet in the designated target areas. All aircraft operated from Eindhoven airbase and used different routes to and from the training areas depending on the actual weather circumstances.
Grande finale
On Saturday September 21, around 800 paratroopers from eight nations supported the official commemoration activities at the Ginkelse heath, near the village of Ede. This location was known as Dropzone Y during the airborne operation. In two waves the paras were dropped in the presence of many officials including king Willem Alexander of the Netherlands and Princess Anne of Great Britain.
Captain Preij concluded: “the Saturday had a special meaning to all involved, the historic significance of the operation and our current exercise goals all came together during the jump. It made me realize the value of our Falcon Leap exercise and made me extremely proud to have served as air commander during the 80th anniversary of Market Garden.”
Northern Skies would like to thanks Captain Maas of SCOM and Captain Preij of 336 Squadron, RNLAF for their help!
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