The_Info_Web/50 - CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY/MILITARY/Jericho I.md

tags	category	summary
Technology Missile Israel	Military Technology	Jericho I is a medium-range ballistic missile developed jointly by Israel and the Dassault Company of France. In 1963, Israel paid $100 million for its joint development and manufacture.

Jericho I is a medium-range ballistic missile developed jointly by Israel and the Dassault Company of France. In 1963, Israel paid $100 million for its joint development and manufacture. It was anticipated that the Jericho I would be able to deliver a miniaturized nuclear warhead to targets three hundred miles away.¹

By the mid-1960s, the Jericho missiles were rapidly being assembled by Dassault. Central Intelligence Agency technical analysts were able to draw scale models of the system and even designed nuclear, chemical, and high-explosive warheads for it, predicting that Israel could successfully target and fire a nuclear warhead. However, intelligence about the Israeli missile was often suppressed or ignored within the U.S. government.²

The first field test of the Jericho I had mixed results, with the missile experiencing guidance problems and not yet capable of hitting its intended targets. Despite this, the missile program, code-named Project 700, was envisioned by Ernst David Bergmann as the final, costly step toward the Samson Option.¹

Footnotes

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1. Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Random House, 1991. Chapter 3, 9, 13. ↩︎

2. Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Random House, 1991. Chapter 11. ↩︎