Jericho II
The
Jericho II is a solid fuel, two-stage
long-range ballistic missile system and a follow on from the Jericho I project.
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.
[16]
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 Mt 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 truck, 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.
[17]
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.
[7]
Some reports claim there are two separate missile systems under development, the Jericho 2 with a 800 km range and the Jericho 2B with an extended 1,500 km range. The range of this missile is frequently reported as about 1,500 km with a 1,000 kg payload, but other estimates suggest that it is capable of a much longer range.
The Jericho II as an available Israeli counter attack 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.
[18] 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.
[19] Raytheon quoting Soviet intelligence archives showing them believing the Jericho-2 as an fully developed weapon in 1989, but did not indicate when it was available for deployment.
[20] 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 which would accommodate suspected Jericho II launchers and missiles.
[21] Such an expansion would be more consistent with a post-1991 deployment chronology.
