The Malkara missile (from an Aboriginal word for " shield") was one of the earliest anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). It was jointly developed by Australia and the United Kingdom between 1951 and 1954, and was in service from 1958 until gradually replaced by the Swingfire missile in the late 60s. It was intended to be light enough to deploy with airborne forces, yet powerful enough to overmatch any tank then in service.
1 Development and operations
The concept of the Malkara
was probably inspired by the WWII German X-7 anti-tank missile. Design was principally undertaken at the Australian Government Aeronautical Research Laboratory , and this phase was also one of the first examples of computer simulation in engineering design. Development testing was carried out at Woomera Prohibited Area, and approval testing at the tank training range at Lulworth Cove Although testing at Dorset apparently achieved an impressive 90% Pkill, in service the missiles were not considered a great success, due to two principle failures:
They were considered too heavy. As they were too heavy for manpacking, they could only be operated from their specialist vehicles, reducing flexibility; and
Accuracy achieved in practice was poor. This may have been because the awkward control system required a lot of practice, and there was neither a simulation system nor sufficient missiles for practice firing. In their memoirs, some operators state that they only fired one missile in their careers.
However, lessons learned from the Malkara project lead to improvements in later programs. In addition, the basic airframe and expertise were directly used in the development of the Ikara anti-ship missileAn Anti-ship missile (AShM is a military missile designed for use against naval surface ships. Most AShMs are of the sea-skimming, subsonic variant, and use a combination of inertial and radar guidance. Countermeasures against AShMs include anti-missile m and the Sea CatSea Cat is a surface to air missile system intended for use aboard small warships. It was designed by Short Brothers of Belfast for use against fast jet aircraft that were proving to be too difficult for WWII designed systems to target. Initially the miss surface-to-air missile
2 FV1620 Humber Hornet
A specialised air-deployable armoured fighting Vehical.
Based on the British Army's FV1611 Humber Pig armoured truck, it carried two Malkara missiles on a retractable boom at the rear, and could be air-dropped on a cluster of 6 parachutes
While this did mean that airborne forces could pack a weapon that could destroy tanks from outside the effective range of tank gunnery, by the time the AT-3 Sagger appeared it must have looked like an awfully complicated way to deploy just two missiles.
