Tel Aviv – 8 American Fighter Jet Engines Stolen from Israeli Base

Tel Aviv – Israeli security officials are investigating the theft of eight military jet engines from an airbase near Tel Aviv.

An IDF spokeswoman described the engines as old or retired and likely stolen for their scrap value, and one retired U.S. Air Force general said the episode is more of an embarrassment for Israel than harmful to the U.S.

But U.S. security and aviation experts say the engines still hold secrets that foreign rivals such as Iran or China would love to get their hands on.

“They’re still more modern than anything in the Iranian air force inventory, and they would even be helpful to China in their jet engine development,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis with Teal Group, a Washington, D.C. defense industry research corporation.

“Modern technology engine design is a ‘black art’ to this day,” he said, and so far no country has been able to match the engine design and manufacture of American fighter engines.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv quoted Israeli air force officials as saying the parts were in fact eight engines for F-15 and F-16 model aircraft.

The engines — which could be Pratt & Whitney or GE engines — each weigh more than 3,700 pounds and were stored at Tel Nof air base near the Israeli capital.

Israel has been criticized by the U.S. in the past for transferring sensitive or classified defense secrets to China, including Patriot and cruise missile technology, according to NTI, the Washington-based arms and threat reduction charity and think-tank co-chaired by former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia.

“I don’t imagine Bibi [Netanyahu] knew these things were going missing,” said Pike, referring to the Israeli prime minister, “but it seems someone did.”