Israel's nuclear weapons program dates back to its creation in 1948 and evolved quickly in the 1950s and '60s with French assistance. Although Israel has never openly admitted to being a nuclear weapons power - its official policy since 1961 has been known as "nuclear ambiguity" - officials of the Middle Eastern country have stated that Israel would not be the first nation to introduce nuclear weapons into the unstable area. Some type of non-nuclear test, perhaps a zero yield or implosion test, occurred on Nov. 2, 1966, possibly in the Negev Desert. There is no evidence that Israel has ever carried out a nuclear test, although many observers speculated that a suspected nuclear explosion in the southern Indian Ocean in 1979 was a joint South African-Israeli test. Israel has the capability to deliver nuclear weapons with medium-range missiles and medium-range bombers.
