After its launch on the tenth anniversary of the "July Revolution", the story of an Egyptian missile that could hit Tel Aviv

Cairo-

“The July holidays came.. the feasts of glory.. the feasts of pride.. Cairo, the capital of the United Arab Republic, welcomed the days of the feast.. the eternal days of July.. 10 years of heroic struggle in all fields have passed.. and the face of Egypt changed.. and with the beginning of Celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the revolution, our republic experienced the most wonderful experience in its modern history, the experience of its victorious entry into the space age... where President Gamal Abdel Nasser witnessed the launch of Arab missiles at the missile base in the heart of the desert..."

This was part of a report broadcast on Egyptian television in 1962 in the midst of the celebration of the anniversary of the July 1952 revolution, in which it focused on the presence of the then President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser and his senior regime men, to test-launch the first Egyptian missile, which Egyptian newspapers described as “an Arab missile that can hit Tel Aviv if He was fired from Cairo.” What was his story?

German scientists

Abdel Nasser was looking to arm the Egyptian army, and his eye was on the German scientists who had no choice but to flee away from their country after its defeat in World War II, especially those who were accused of them in cases related to the Jews, some of them fled to the West and others went to countries in To the east, Egypt, where they worked as advisors and trainers for the Egyptian army.

When the Soviet Union refused to provide Egypt with modern weapons after the tripartite aggression in 1956 (a war in which Egypt faced Israeli, British and French forces), President Gamal Abdel Nasser decided in 1960 to establish the Military Industrialization Authority, and the size of the Egyptian workforce had reached 333 Military Factory (Sakhr) in its days. About a thousand Egyptian workers and scientists, assisted by 250 experienced German scientists and technicians, were welcomed by Abdel Nasser during that period, but the assassinations by the Israeli intelligence were stalking them and threatening their safety in Egypt, which made them withdraw successively.

Muhammad Hassanein Heikal tells in his book “Abdul Nasser and the World” that Egyptian intelligence contacted German scientists in Europe and brought them to Cairo, and the Israelis caused an international uproar about the presence of “Nazi scientists” in Egypt, and Abdel Nasser could not understand this denunciation of German scientists’ dealings with him, and Abdel’s response was Nasser told the US ambassador, "The Russians have German scholars who work for them, and you have German scholars who work for you, so why should they not work for Egypt?"

Heikal added that Egypt was able to move forward with its ambitious program despite the explosive postal parcels that targeted German scientists and despite the global propaganda campaign against it.

arms race

Heikal continues in his book, pointing out that Egypt launched its first missile on the feasts of the July 1962 revolution, which angered then-US President John F. Kennedy, who sent to Nasser, stressing that by doing so, he would ignite the arms race between Egypt and Israel. He told him, "The Israelis feel that they are threatened and that in order to remove their fears, he authorized They should buy some batteries for anti-aircraft missiles."

In his book "The Story of the Egyptian Missile and Aircraft Industry", retired officer Muhammad Dhia'i Nafie - as an eyewitness to the missile program - tells the details of the Al-Qaher and Al-Zafer industry, and tells that the experiences that preceded the announcement of the program proved fatal errors in guiding the missiles, but Abdel Nasser went ahead in announcing the The program during the revolution celebrations in 1962.

Nafeh added, "In mid-June, preparations were taking place as they should, in order to conduct a test launch of the victorious missile, and this test was a rehearsal for the launch of the missile to celebrate the revolution's feasts. Which was the hope of the armed forces and the hope of all Egyptians after they learned of the project a year earlier... But what happened is that the missile, after its launch and its height from the launch platform by tens of meters, headed to the ground again and fell near the launch platform where the photographer stands.

The incident occurred during the filming of the propaganda video broadcast by Egyptian television, but this did not prevent Nasser's media from broadcasting it in order to intimidate the Israelis with the illusory capabilities of the Qaher and Zafer missiles.

Nafeh believes that most of the young generation and the elderly also do not know anything about this industry, and that many were laughing when he talked about planes or missiles, "They were wondering whether we were actually making a plane or a missile if we weren't making a car engine or a refrigerator motor... In fact... I do not blame these people for what they say, and I seek an excuse for them, because the media during the years of those projects was absent and far from writing, or even approaching these projects and presenting the true picture of what the Egyptians were doing. Indeed, many of those who were contemporaneous with the time of that industry, we find that they have information Unrealistic confusion about those projects..."

Shazly's certificate

After the defeat of 1967, the Egyptians started whispering: Where are the two missiles? Why didn't President Nasser use them to strike Tel Aviv, as he promised?

Thus, Lieutenant-General Saad El-Din El-Shazly began his testimony in his memoirs to confirm that the project was merely "a propaganda for the Nasser regime at that period and the media supported him in that, as the story of these missiles preoccupied him when he assumed the chief of staff of the Egyptian army, and he began investigating its news."

Al-Shazly says in his testimony, "I will not tell how the story began, how millions of pounds were spent on this project and how the media contributed to falsifying facts and deceiving the people of Egypt. I leave it all to history, but I will only talk about the situation in which I found this weapon and how I tried to benefit - as much as What I can - from the effort and money spent on it.

Al-Shazly continued, "Al-Qaher and Al-Zafir, there were several copies of them lying in storage, their defects were many and their benefits few, but I decided to take advantage of them as much as their characteristics allow, and I myself prepared a practical statement for the launch of the omnipotent and found that this weapon is as close as possible to the medieval catapult. ".

Al-Shazly added that he was surprised that Sadat announced on the morning of October 23, 1973, “We launched Al-Qaher on the enemy occupying the Deversoir area a few minutes before the ceasefire. Of course, we could not use it against any target located directly east of the Canal because the inaccuracy of the weapon had caused As a result, the shell will fall on our positions, which are located to the west of the canal, and are only 200 meters away from the enemy positions.”

He continues, "We were not able to send him to the front before the start of the operations, because if the enemy had discovered his presence, the Israelis might think - based on the enormity of his size - that he was capable of striking Tel Aviv, so we postponed his movement until the night of the attack... The October War was the The chance that the curtain could be finally brought down on Al-Qaher and Al-Zafir, or - according to their new names - the fig and the olive.