Israel buys 5 US helicopters for spare parts for aging Yasur fleet
Choppers reach Ashdod Port from Texas following weeks-long boat journey; their arrival comes a month after one of Israel’s transport helicopters made a fiery crash landing
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Five American Navy surplus helicopters arrived at the Ashdod Port on Saturday night to serve as spare parts for the Israeli Air Force’s aging fleet of Yasur heavy transport helicopters, the Defense Ministry said.
The IAF’s fleet of Yasur, or Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion, heavy transport helicopters was purchased from the United States in the late 1960s. Last month, one of the helicopters caught fire due to a technical error and made a crash landing in a field in southern Israel. All those on board escaped the aircraft unscathed. The IAF’s fleet of Yasur helicopters has been grounded since the accident.
Israel is planning to purchase a replacement for the over-50-year-old helicopters, but has yet to decide on a suitable aircraft. In the interim, the air force requires a supply of spare parts to keep its current fleet of CH-53 helicopters flying.
The purchase of the five US Navy helicopters was not related to the November 26 accident. The procurement was negotiated over a year ago, and the helicopters were loaded onto a cargo ship in Houston, Texas, a month and a half ago, the Defense Ministry said.
“Upon receiving the mission from the Air Force, we started looking for helicopters of the correct profile. We found five helicopters in the US military surpluses, which matched the requirements, and we immediately started working to receive the approvals for purchasing the helicopters for parts,” said Avi Moshiach, the head of the Israeli Air Force’s procurement department.
According to Shai Halperin, who led the Defense Ministry’s operation to bring the helicopters to Israel, the process was far more difficult than other procurement operations because of the transport helicopters’ size and weight.
On Saturday night, the ship arrived at the Ashdod Port. Specialized equipment, used for transporting heavy cargo, was needed to unload and transport the five helicopters to IAF bases, the ministry said.
“This operation required special preparations, due to the complexity of loading the giant helicopters into the transport ship and due to the importance of the mission for the defense establishment and the air force,” Halperin said.
“I am happy that after weeks of dedicated effort, we have succeeded in safely bringing the special cargo to its new home in the air force,” he said.
An Israeli Air Force investigation determined that the fire in its Yasur helicopter last month appeared to have been caused by a technical failure in a gear connected to its left motor, and not within the engine itself as originally suspected, the military said earlier this month.
“Due to the high heat caused [by the gear], the relay caught fire, which led to the helicopter catching fire,” the military said.
The air force said it did not yet know the cause of the gear’s technical failure and was working with local and foreign experts in order to identify the source of the problem.
The investigatory team confirmed that the pilots’ quick actions — landing the helicopter in under a minute — allowed all 14 soldiers on board to escape the aircraft unharmed.
The helicopter had been en route to a base in southern Israel for a training exercise. Eleven of the soldiers on board were members of the elite Shaldag commando unit, along with two pilots and a mechanic.
Though Israel’s Yasur aircraft have been upgraded and restored in the five decades since they were purchased, they are widely seen in the military as ready for retirement, in favor of newer models.
In 2010, an Israel Defense Forces Yasur helicopter crashed during a joint exercise of the IAF and Romanian Air Force, killing the five people on board. That crash was found to have apparently been caused by human error.
In 1997, two Yasur helicopters collided in the air while en route to locations in the country’s then-security zone in southern Lebanon. Seventy-three soldiers were killed in what was Israel’s most devastating air disaster.
