Irish PM’s jet can’t land in fog after Israeli system removed

The Irish taoiseach’s jet could struggle to land in fog after it was bought without an Israeli navigation system he banned over the war in Gaza.

The €53m (£45m) Dassault Falcon 6X is usually equipped with a FalconEye system, made by Israeli defence company Elbit Systems.

But Micheál Martin’s government was forced to purchase the aircraft from a French firm without it after Ireland blacklisted all Israeli defence technology in 2024.

Kevin Phipps, a former Irish Air Corps pilot, said the missing system provided “the ability to land in fog when other aircraft would have to divert to another airport”.

For the Israeli system to be included in the Falcon 6X, the Irish government would have to enter a written agreement with Elbit.

Procurement officials in Ireland decided this was a step too far for Ireland and asked that the system not be included, the Irish Journal reported.

However, four new Irish air corps helicopters were still delivered with flight systems manufactured by Elbit as the aircraft would not be operational without them.

Alex Gandler, spokesman for the Israeli embassy in the UK, said the jet could not land in fog because of “anti-Israel brain rot”.

Writing on X, he said: “The incompetence and ideological fervour run deep. An Irish jet can’t land in fog because of rabid anti-Israel brain rot.”

Eylon Levy, the former Israeli government spokesman, added that it sounded “like a typical ‘Irish joke’”.

The Dassault Falcon 6X was introduced in December 2025 to replace the government’s Lear jet.

Dublin’s department of defence has said the new aircraft has “no current limits” on its operational capability.

The aircraft carries 14 passengers and is operated by the Irish air corps from Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnell.

Though it is used for a range of operations, its main usage is to transport the taoiseach and other ministers.

The jet was manufactured by Dassault Aviation, a French aerospace company. It describes the FalconEye as a system of cameras and sensors providing “unprecedented all-weather situational awareness, day or night, in any phase of flight”.

The equipment is fed to a display in the cockpit used by the pilots as they approach landing.

Elbit Systems is an Israel-based international military technology company and defence contractor.

It is the primary provider of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Pro-Palestine activists have targeted the company across the West over the Jewish state’s war in Gaza.

Members of Palestine Action were convicted in June after breaking into an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol and destroying equipment with crowbars.

Banning imports of goods 

Ireland has long taken a robust anti-Israeli stance. Last month the Irish parliament approved legislation banning imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Act prohibits the importing of goods from “certain Israeli settlements”.

Dublin also banned Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-Right security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, from entering the country.

It has also been pushing for a review of the European Union’s EU-Israel association agreement, a trade deal signed in 1995.

Dublin recognised a Palestinian state in 2024 and soon after Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, ordered the closure of the Israeli embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies”.

A spokesman for Ireland’s department of defence said: “Recent reporting has focused on the absence of an optional enhanced vision system. 

“The aircraft was procured in accordance with the state’s operational requirements and remains fully capable of carrying out its intended missions.

“It would not be appropriate to comment further on the aircraft’s specifications. However, it can be confirmed that there are no limitations on the aircraft’s operational capability.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]