What is Jericho Missile System?

About Jericho Missile System:

• Jericho is Israel's original ballistic missile programme, initiated in the 1960s and named after the biblical city located in the West Bank.
• This programme was initially a collaboration with the French aerospace company Dassault, but when France withdrew in 1969, Israel continued its development.
• Jericho-1:
  • It had a weight of 6.5 tonnes, a length of 13.4 metres, and a diameter of 0.8 metres.
  • It had a range of 500 kilometres and could carry a 1,000-kilogram payload, though it had a 50 percent chance of hitting within a 1,000-metre radius of its target.
  • It was retired in the 1990s.
• Jericho-2:
  • It was developed in the late 1980s, with a length of 15 metres and a diameter of 1.35 metres, while maintaining the same payload capacity. 
  • It had a range between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres.
• Jericho-3:
  • It is the first Israeli Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM).
  • It was first tested in 2008 and entered service in 2011.
  • It featured improvements over the previous models, with a longer length than Jericho-2 and a larger diameter of 1.56 metres.
  • It has an estimated launch weight of 29,000 kg and a payload of 1,000 to 1,300 kg.
  • It has a range of 4,800 to 6,500 km and uses inertial guidance with a radar-guided warhead.
  • The missile is reportedly equipped with a 750-kg nuclear warhead.