Shiloahdecided that there was no longer any need for the Mossad
Le’Aliyah Beth.FRAUENKNECHT, ALFRED.In the late 1960s, Frauenknecht, a
Swiss-Jewish engineer, stole 200,000 blueprints and the specifica-
tions for the precise machine tools used in the manufacture of the
French-Swiss Mirage III fighter aircraft. He passed them to Israel,
which used the blueprints to build the Kfir fighter plane.
Obtaining the Mirage blueprints was a joint operation of the Bureau
of Scientific Liaison(LAKAM) and the Israel Air Force. LAKAM
knew about, and exploited, Frauenknecht’s need of money, but also his
ideological motive for assisting Israel. His first handler was the Israeli
attaché in Paris, Colonel Dov Sion. To expedite matters, Frauenknecht
had his nephew help him photocopy the blueprints and place the copies
in agreed boxes. LAKAM’s agents collected the copies and took them
to West Germany and thence to Israel. Frauenknecht claimed that he
was promised $l million for the blueprints but got only $200,000.
Frauenknecht’s activities became known to Swiss authorities, who
arrested him in 1969. Israel disowned him and abandoned him to his
fate. A Swiss judge found Frauenknecht guilty of espionage, and on 29
April 1971 he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. How-
ever, the Swiss court was so appalled by the way that Israel had treated
him that it was moved to reduce Frauenknecht’s sentence as a gesture
of consolation. The result was that he spent only one year in prison.
The government of Israel did not invite Frauenknecht to the cere-
monial unveiling of the Kfir aircraft, which was scheduled after his re-
lease from prison on 29 April 1975. However, some Israeli pilots took
pity on Frauenknecht, who was left destitute after his incarceration.
They collected money for a plane ticket so that he could attend the
event, which they knew would never have taken place were it not for
him. Frauenknecht was present, although he was not permitted to view
the unveiling of the plane from the VIP grandstand and was obliged to
stand among the crowd. Even then, when top Israel officials discov-
ered that Frauenknecht was in attendance, he was immediately asked
to leave. Security staff quickly and quietly escorted him out.
The reputation of Binyamin Blumberg(the director of LAKAM)
soared on account of his accomplishment in obtaining the Mirage III
blueprints. Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan gave Blumberg full
backing for his activities.94 • FRAUENKNECHT, ALFRED06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 94