Jericho missile of Israel

Jericho is a common term given to the Israeli ballistic missiles. The term is adopted from the first development contract signed between Israel and Dassault in 1963, with the nickname as a reference to the Biblical city of Jericho. Just as most Israeli weapons systems, precise details are highly confidential. These missiles pose a threat as weapons of mass destruction. Let’s consider whatever details we have available for each of these missiles.

Jericho I

Jericho I was first in public acknowledged as an equipped short-range ballistic missile system in late 1971. It was 13.4 meters (44 ft) long, 0.8 m (2 ft 7 in) in diameter, weighing 6.5 tons (14,000 lb). It had a range of 500 km (310 mi) and a CEP of 1,000 m (3,300 ft), and it could take a payload anticipated at 400 kilograms (880 lb). It was planned to carry a nuclear warhead. However, due to Israel’s vagueness over its nuclear weapons program, the missile is classified as a ballistic missile. Early development was in union with France, Dassault provided diverse missile systems from 1963 and a type chosen MD-620 was test fired in 1965. But French co-operation was brought to a close by an arms restriction from January 1968, though 12 missiles had been delivered from France. In spite of some early problems with its supervision systems, it is believed that around 100 missiles of this type were created.

In 1969 Israel had to agree with the U.S. that Jericho missiles would not be used as “strategic missiles”, with nuclear warheads, until at least 1972. The Jericho-I is now considered outdated and was taken out of service during the 1990s.

Jericho II

The Jericho II is a solid fuel, two-stage long-range ballistic missile system. There was a sequence of test launches into the Mediterranean from 1987 to 1992, the longest at around 1,300 km, generally from the facility at Palmachim, south of Tel Aviv. The Jericho II is 14.0 m long and 1.56 m wide, with a reported launch weight of 26,000 kg. It has a 1,000 kg payload, capable of hauling a significant amount of high explosives or a 1 MT yield nuclear warhead. It uses a two-stage solid propellant engine with an extrication warhead. The missile can be launched from a silo, a railroad flat truck, or a mobile vehicle. This gives it the facility to be hidden, moved quickly, or kept in a hardened silo, largely ensuring endurance against any assault.

The Jericho II forms the basis of the three-stage, 23 ton Shavit NEXT satellite launcher, first launched in 1988 from Palmachim. From the performance of Shavit it has been expected that as a ballistic missile it has an utmost range of about 7,800 km with a 500 kg payload.

Jericho III

It is predictable that the Jericho III is an ICBM which entered service in 2008. The Jericho III is whispered to have a three-stage solid propellant and a payload of 1,000 to 1,300 kg. It is possible for the missile to be equipped with a single 750 kg nuclear warhead or two or three low yield MIRV warheads. It has an anticipated launch weight of 30,000 kg and a length of 15.5 m with a width of 1.56 m. It may be related to an upgraded and re-designed Shavit space launch vehicle, created by Israel Aerospace Industries. It possibly has longer first and second-stage motors. It is anticipated that it has a range of 4,800 to 11,500 km (2,982 to 7,180 miles).

According to an official report which was submitted to the American congress in 2004, it may be that with a payload of 1,000 kg the Jericho III gives Israel nuclear strike capabilities within the entire Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and almost all parts of North America, as well as within large parts of South America and North Oceania. On 17 January 2008 Israel test fired a multi-stage ballistic missile believed to be of the Jericho III type, reportedly capable of carrying “conventional or non conventional warheads.” On 2 November 2011, Israel successfully test fired a missile believed to be an upgraded version of the Jericho III at Palmachim; the long trail of smoke was seen throughout central Israel.