---
category: Military Technology
location: Israel
start: 1963
summary: The Jericho I was a medium-range ballistic missile jointly developed by Israel
  and the French Dassault company beginning in 1963, designed to deliver nuclear warheads
  to targets 300 miles away.
tags:
- Technology
- Missile
- Israel
---

Jericho I is a medium-range ballistic missile developed jointly by [Israel](/places/israel/) and the [Dassault Company](/organizations/dassault-company/) of [France](/places/france/). In 1963, [Israel](/places/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. [CIA](/organizations/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](/places/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](/people/ernst-david-bergmann/) as the final, costly step toward the [Samson Option](/concepts/samson-option/).[^1]

[^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.