The ballistic missile plant at Be'er Ya'akov produces the Jericho 1, 2 and 3 ballistic missiles.

In September 1962 Shimon Peres approached the French company Marcel Dassault (today Dassault Aviation) and asked it to "conduct a feasibility study on the development and production of a ground-to-ground ballistic missile for Israel" (Avner Cohen, "Israel and the Bomb", p. 155). Israel asked for a missile "that can be fired at a rate of 4 to 8 missiles an hour from fixed or mobile launchers, with a maximum preparation time of two hours" (cited in Cohen, ibid., p. 156).

The background to the request was Egypt's ballistic missile project, which had been carried out with German scientists (a project that ultimately failed).

The missile the French supplied specifically to Israel - the Jericho (MD-620) - is a two-stage missile capable of carrying 750 kg warheads to a range of up to 500 km, with an accuracy of 1 km. The first test was carried out on 1 February 1965 (a single-stage missile). On 16 March the second test, of a two-stage missile, was carried out.

The plant is a מל"ם facility and belongs to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which also manufactures the Arrow and Shavit missiles. A special railway line connects the plant to the nearby missile base Kanaf 2.

In 1968 France imposed an arms embargo on Israel, and cooperation between Israel and the French company was halted. But Israel already had enough information to continue development and production on its own.

According to classified documents published recently, Israel was to supply South Africa in the mid-1970s with Jericho 1 missiles carrying nuclear warheads. This concerns a memorandum written in 1975 by Raymond Armstrong, chief of staff of the South African Defence Force (SADF), whose classification was recently lifted. The memorandum confirms information provided by Dieter Gerhardt, a senior officer in the SADF navy who spied for the Russians. According to the information, in November 1974 Israel's defense minister at the time, Shimon Peres, signed a secret cooperation agreement with South Africa's prime minister, John Vorster. Under the agreement - code-named Chalet - Israel was to supply the SADF with Jericho 1 missiles with a range of 500 km. Under a secret agreement code-named Burglar, Israel was to arm 8 ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads - an agreement that raises questions about Israel's policy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Israel's willingness to cooperate with South Africa stemmed from several reasons: South Africa's ability to supply uranium from the uranium mines within its territory; its vast area, which made it possible to conduct a nuclear test (planned for the Kalahari desert, but discovered and cancelled under international pressure); and Israel's need to finance the expensive Be'er Ya'akov ballistic missile project. South Africa, for its part, needed weapons in its war at that time to maintain its control of Namibia.

In 1974 South Africa began planning a nuclear test in the Kalahari desert. Israel's involvement is unclear - but the trauma of the Yom Kippur War (1973) could certainly have pushed it to want such a test. In 1977 the preparations for the test were exposed and it was cancelled. Two years later, in 1979, a nuclear test was carried out over the Indian Ocean, not far from the coast of South Africa - in cooperation between the two countries.

Sources:

All the information was taken from open sources and has been published many times over

 

The information on the memorandum written by Raymond Armstrong can be read in English at this link (PDF file) | For further information, search Google for Israel Jericho Missiles South Africa

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