---
category: Private Organization
location: Vaucresson, France
start: 1929
summary: Dassault is the French aerospace company that jointly developed the Jericho
  I missile with Israel under a 1963 $100 million contract, providing France's key
  role in the early Israeli ballistic missile program.
tags:
- Organization
- Private
- France
---

Dassault Company is a French aerospace company. In 1963, [Israel](/places/israel/) paid $100 million to Dassault for the joint development and manufacture of twenty-five medium-range Israeli missiles, which would become known as the Jericho I. These missiles were anticipated to be capable of delivering a miniaturized nuclear warhead to targets three hundred miles away.[^1]

By 1963, the Dassault Company was involved in the joint development and manufacture of the Jericho I missile system with [Israel](/places/israel/). This missile was designed to deliver a miniaturized nuclear warhead to targets three hundred miles away.[^1]

[Charles de Gaulle](/people/charles-de-gaulle/) claimed to newsmen that he had not known of Dassault's contract with [Israel](/places/israel/) until the first field test in 1967 of the Jericho I, although the French firm continued to work with Israelis on the missile program for another year.[^1]

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