Израильские баллистические ракеты "Иерихон"

Family of Israeli ballistic missiles

Jericho (יריחו) is a general designation given to a loosely related family of deployed ballistic missiles developed by Israel since the 1960s. The name is taken from the first development contract for the Jericho I signed between Israel and Dassault in 1963, with the codename as a reference to the Biblical city of Jericho. As with some other Israeli high tech weapons systems, exact details are classified, though there are observed test data, public statements by government officials, and details in open literature especially about the Shavit satellite launch vehicle. The later Jericho family development is related to the Shavit and Shavit II space launch vehicles believed to be derivatives of the Jericho II IRBM and that preceded the development of the Jericho III ICBM. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US concluded that the Shavit could be adapted as an ICBM carrying a 500 kg warhead over 7,500 km. Additional insight into the Jericho program was revealed by the South African series of missiles, of which the RSA 3 are believed to be licensed copies of the Jericho II/Shavit, and the RSA 4 that used part of these systems in their stack with a heavy first stage. Subsequent to the declaration and disarming of the South African nuclear program, the RSA series missiles were offered commercially as satellite launch vehicles, resulting in the advertised specifications becoming public knowledge. The civilian space launch version of the Jericho, the Shavit, was studied in an air launched version piggybacked on a Boeing 747 similar to a U. S. experimental launch of the Minuteman ICBM from a C 5 Galaxy.

Jericho I was first publicly identified being an operational short range ballistic missile system in late 1971. It was long, in diameter, weighing It had a range of and a CEP of , and it could carry a payload estimated at It was intended to carry a nuclear warhead. Due to Israel's ambiguity over its nuclear weapons program, the missile is classified as a ballistic missile. 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. French co operation was halted by an arms embargo in January 1968, though 12 missiles had been delivered from France. During the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, with the initial surprise breakthroughs on both northern and southern borders by Arab armies, the alarmed Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir that "this is the end of the third temple." He was warning of Israel's impending total defeat, but "Temple" was also the code word for nuclear weapons. That night Meir authorized the assembly of thirteen nuclear weapon "physics packages" to arm Jericho I missiles at Sdot Micha Airbase, and F 4 aircraft at Tel Nof Airbase, for use against Syrian and Egyptian targets. They would be used if absolutely necessary to prevent total defeat, but the preparation was done in an easily detectable way, likely as a signal to the US. President Nixon ordered the commencement of Operation Nickel Grass, a U. S. airlift to replace all of Israel's material losses. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Kissinger told Sadat that the reason for the U. S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to "going nuclear". It is believed that all Jericho 1 missiles were taken out of service in the 1990s and replaced with the longer range Jericho 2. The Jericho 1 missiles were housed in Zekharia, located southeast of Tel Aviv and stationed in caves.

The Jericho II (YA 3) is a solid fuel, two stage long range ballistic missile system and a follow on from the Jericho I project. As many as 90 Jericho 2 missiles are currently based in caves near Zekharia (Sdot Micha Airbase), southeast of Tel Aviv. A request from Israel for 1,100 mile (1,770 km) range Pershing II medium range ballistic missiles was rejected by the United States for inclusion as part of a military assistance incentive package offered in 1975 during negotiations over transferring the Sinai from Israeli to Egyptian control as part of a US brokered peace deal. Jericho II development began in 1977, and by 1986 there were reports of test firings. According to Missilethreat, a project of the George C. Marshall Institute, there is evidence the Jericho II originated as a joint Israeli Iranian project, cooperation that ended with the loss of friendly relations after the 1979 Iranian Revolution overthrew the Shah's rule. There was 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. Jane's reports that a test launch of 1,400 km is believed to have taken place from South Africa's Overberg Test Range in June 1989. The Jericho II is 14.0 m long and 1.56 m wide, with a reported launch weight of 26,000 kg (although an alternative launch weight of 21,935 kg has been suggested). It has a 1,000 kg payload, capable of carrying a considerable amount of high explosives or a 1 Megaton yield nuclear warhead. It uses a two stage solid propellant engine with a separating warhead. The missile can be launched from a silo, a railroad flat car, or a mobile vehicle. This gives it the ability to be hidden, moved quickly, or kept in a hardened silo, largely ensuring survival against any attack. It has an active radar homing terminal guidance system similar to that of the Pershing II, for very accurate strikes. 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 estimated that as a ballistic missile it has a maximum range of about 7,800 km with a 500 kg payload. The Jericho II as an available Israeli counterattack option to Iraqi missile bombardment in the 1991 Gulf War is disputed. Jane's at the time believed that Jericho II entered service in 1989. Researcher Seth Carus claims that, according to an Israeli source, the decision to operationally deploy the Jericho 2 was only made after 1994, several years after the Scud attacks had ended and a cease fire and disarmament regime were in place. Raytheon Technologies, quoting Soviet intelligence archives, showed them believing the Jericho 2 to have been fully developed weapon in 1989, but did not indicate when it was available for deployment. Investigators for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace accessed commercial satellite images of the Sdot Micha Airbase near Zachariah, a suspected Jericho missile base, comparison shows expansion between 1989 and 1993 of the type that would accommodate suspected Jericho II launchers and missiles. Such an expansion would be more consistent with a post 1991 deployment chronology.

It is believed that the Jericho III (YA 4) is a nuclear armed ICBM that entered service in 2011. The Jericho III is believed to have two or three stages, using solid propellant and having a payload of 1,000 to 1,300 kg. The payload could be a single 750 kg (150–400 kiloton) though a 2004 missile proliferation survey by the Congressional Research Service put its possible maximum range at 11,500 km (missile range is inversely proportional to payload mass). According to an official report that was submitted to the U. S. 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 large parts of South America and North Oceania. Missile Threat reports: "The range of the Jericho 3 also provides an extremely high impact speed for nearby targets, enabling it to avoid any Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) defenses that may develop in the immediate region." 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. Israel's intercontinental ballistic missile launchers are believed to be buried so deeply that they would survive a first strike nuclear attack. After a successful missile test launch conducted in early 2008, Israeli weapons expert General Itzhak Ben Israel, former chairman of the Israeli Space Agency at the Ministry of Science, said "Everybody can do the mathematics we can reach with a rocket engine to every point in the world", thus appearing to confirm Israel's new capability. Israeli Ministry of Defense officials said that the 2008 test launch represented a "dramatic leap in Israel's missile technologies". After a further test in 2013 Alon Ben David published this opinion in an article in Aviation Week on the missile's range and throw weight: "Reportedly, Israel's Jericho III intermediate range ballistic missile is capable of carrying a 1,000 kg (2,204 lb.) warhead more than 5,000 km." Further tests conducted in July 2013 could have been for the Jericho 3 or possibly the Jericho 3A missile, a follow up missile believed to have a new motor. 2024 article provides more details: " the Jericho 4, a three stage missile, whose capabilities will include the possibility of carrying fragmentation warheads."