Jericho missile

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Jericho is a general designation given to the Israeli medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM). The name is taken from the first development contract signed between Israel and Dassault in 1963, with the codename as a reference to the Biblical city of Jericho. Like much connected to the nuclear weapons program of Israel, exact details are difficult to find.

Jericho I was first publicly identified as an operational system in late 1971. It was 13.4 m long, 0.8 m in diameter, weighing 6.5 tons. It had a range of 500 km and a CEP of 1,000 m, and it could carry a payload estimated at 400 kg. It was intended to carry a nuclear warhead. Initial development was in conjunction with France, Dassault provided various missile systems from 1963 and a type designated MD-620 was test fired in 1965. But French co-operation was halted by an arms embargo from January 1968. Work was continued by IAI at the Beit Zachariah facility and the program cost almost $1 billion up to 1980. Despite guidance problems it is believed that around 100 missiles of this type were produced.

The system was updated from around 1985, it was identified as the Jericho II, a solid fuel, 13 ton, two-stage system. There were a series of test launches into the Mediterranean from 1987 to 1992, the longest at around 1,300 km, mostly from the facility at Palmachim, south of Tel Aviv. Again, the qualities of the system are unclear but it is considered by some sources as equivalent to the US MGM-31 Pershing, the American government having provided considerable technical assistance to the Israelis in the 1970s.

It has been proposed that the Jericho II forms the basis of the three-stage, 23 ton Shavit NEXT satellite launcher (similar to the South African RSA-3), first launched in 1988 from Palmachim. From the performance of Shavit it has been estimated that as a ballistic missile it has a maximum range of about 4,500 km with a limited 250 kg payload.

Jericho III is thought to have been in service since mid-2005. With a payload of 1,000 - 1,300 kg it has a range of 4,800 km. This gives Israel nuclear strike capability against Africa, Europe, and most of Asia.

[edit] Stockpile

Israel is thought to have several thousand Jericho missiles, stockpiled mainly in the north of the country.^{[citation needed]} Although most of the Jericho missiles now available are Jericho II's, an unknown number of Jericho III missiles are thought to be stockpiled throughout Israel.