Jericho I

🇮🇱Israel

Dassault

1971 – Present

Overview

Jericho I is a short-range ballistic missile developed by Israel, first operational in 1971, with a range of 500 km and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Specifications

General

Cep M1,000 m

Length M13.4 m

Range Km500 km

Payload Kg400 kg

Warhead Typesnuclear

Launch Weight Kg6,500 kg

Research Notes

Israel's first Jericho ballistic missile

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Jericho I was a short-range solid-fueled ballistic missile and the first generation of the Jericho family.

Jericho I was the first operational generation in Israel's Jericho missile lineage. CSIS describes it as a short-range, solid-fueled ballistic missile developed with French involvement and later replaced by longer-range Jericho systems. It is no longer the current core of the force.

Section Sources

Missiles of IsraelCSIS Missile Threat Jericho 1CSIS Missile Threat

Short-range two-stage solid missile

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The system used a two-stage solid-propellant design with road, rail, or protected basing options reported in open sources.

Jericho I's significance is less about modern capability and more about establishing Israel's ballistic missile base. It gave Israel an indigenous or locally sustained strategic delivery path and created the design and basing foundations for follow-on systems.

Section Sources

Missiles of IsraelCSIS Missile Threat Jericho 1CSIS Missile Threat

Historical foundation, not current frontline system

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Jericho I should be presented as obsolete but important for the evolution of Israeli deterrence.

The page should clarify that Jericho I was reportedly retired during the 1990s. Its value for readers is historical: it explains how the Jericho family began and why later Jericho 2 and Jericho 3 systems were strategically more significant.

Section Sources

Missiles of IsraelCSIS Missile Threat Jericho 1CSIS Missile Threat

Sources & References

Missile Threat missile databaseCenter for Strategic and International Studies • 2026