Israel Stole Egypt’s Radar. The Helicopter Almost Couldn’t Lift It.

Nehemiah Dagan’s helicopter had barely lifted its cargo from Egyptian soil when the weight gauge delivered the bad news: 4.1 tons. The Soviet radar hanging below him weighed almost twice what he had been told to expect. Then a hydraulic system failed.

The alternative was to drop the intelligence prize back into Egypt. Dagan kept climbing. Recounting Operation Rooster 53 for the Israeli military decades later, the pilot described warning lights, a crippled helicopter and a low flight across the Gulf of Suez with the load still attached.

Egypt’s Soviet-supplied radar had become a problem for Israeli aircraft during the War of Attrition. Captured equipment from the 1967 war had helped Israel develop electronic countermeasures. By 1969, newer systems were making those methods less effective, according to the Jewish Virtual Library’s history of the operation.

An intact P-12 offered something an airstrike could never deliver: a machine for intelligence specialists to examine. The raid replaced a proposed bombing mission. Planning began on December 24; by the night of December 26, paratroopers were flying toward the installation in Super Frelon helicopters.

The IDF’s later reconstruction adds an extraordinary rehearsal. To keep preparations secret even inside Israel’s army, Sayeret Matkal removed an older captured Soviet radar from a military scrapyard. The assault force practiced on the stolen practice target.

The Egyptian operation required men who could take machinery apart under pressure. The commander favored soldiers with technical-school training. Once inside the position, the raiders found that Soviet welding resisted their tools and delayed dismantling.

Two CH-53 helicopters carried away separate loads. The lighter package included the antenna and communications caravan. Dagan’s aircraft struggled with the heavier equipment. The radar ultimately reached Israeli-held territory and the intelligence specialists waiting for it.

The Jewish Virtual Library credits examination of the captured system with providing new countermeasures against Egyptian air defenses. The surviving equipment is now displayed at Hatzerim’s air-force museum. Its ungainly trailers and antenna preserve the central calculation of the raid: Soviet technology could be more valuable in an Israeli workshop than in pieces on an Egyptian beach.