January 20, 2008: Israel conducted another test of its Jericho 3 ballistic missile on January 17th.
This missile went into production last year, after three years, of reports that it was close to entering service.
With a range of nearly 5,000 kilometers, the Jericho 3 can drop a nuke anywhere
in the Middle East. The Jericho 3 is apparently a variant of the Shavit
satellite launcher. The Jericho is a 30 ton, solid fuel, two stage missile,
with a half ton payload. Israel is believed to have 50-100 of the shorter range
Jericho 2. This is a 26 ton missile with a max range of about 1,500 kilometers.
The Jericho 2 was the basis for the Shavit satellite launcher, which has put
several satellites in orbit since 1995. The Jericho 1, developed with French
assistance, entered service in 1973. This 500 kilometers range missile was
replaced by the 1,400 kilometers range Jericho 2, which entered service in
1989.
