The Malkara (from an Aboriginal word for " shield") was one of the earliest guided

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

s (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

Vickers Vigilant The Vickers Vigilant was a British 1960s era MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile used by the British Army. It was also licence-built in the United States by Clevite for the US Marine Corps, and sometimes known as Clevite rounds in this case. It ...

missile in the late 1960s. It was intended to be light enough to deploy with

airborne force Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in ai ...

s, yet powerful enough to knock out any

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

then in service. The basic form was later adapted for the short-range

surface-to-air A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

role as the

Seacat Seacat may refer to: * Seacat missile, a short-range surface-to-air missile system * SeaCat (1992–2004), ferry company formerly operating from between Northern Ireland, Scotland and England * The Sea-Cat, an imaginary monster from Flann O'Brien' ...

and influenced the development of the Ikara.

Development and operations

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 The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a d ...

, and approval testing at the tank training range at

Lulworth Cove Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a World Heritage Site and tourist location with approximately ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. Although testing at Dorset apparently achieved an impressive 90% P_kill, in service the missiles were not considered a great success, due to three principal 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. Malkara had a training simulator integrated with the launch interface equipment. In their memoirs, some operators state that they only fired one missile in their careers. *Finally, their speed was low, taking almost 30 seconds to reach maximum range. Hornet Malkara img 2363

However, lessons learned from the Malkara project led to improvements in later programs. In addition, the basic airframe and expertise were directly used in the development of the Ikara

anti-submarine missile An anti-submarine missile is a standoff anti-submarine weapon. Often a variant of anti-ship missile designs, an anti-submarine systems typically use a jet or rocket engine, to deliver an explosive warhead aimed directly at a submarine, a depth c ...

and the

Sea Cat Seacat was a British short-range surface-to-air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system, and was designed so tha ...

naval surface-to-air missile. Malkara was unusual among anti-tank missiles in that it had a

High-explosive squash head High explosive squash head (HESH) in British terminology, or high explosive plastic/plasticized (HEP) in American terminology, is a type of explosive projectile which uses a plastic explosive that conforms to the surface of a target before deton ...

(HESH), also known as High Explosive Plastic (HEP), warhead instead of the more usual shaped charge

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

(High Explosive Anti Tank) warhead. The United Kingdom always showed interest for HESH, the main explosive-based anti-tank ammunition in British use including contemporary tanks like the Centurion. A 26/27 kg anti-tank warhead was well above the average, but Malkara had a calibre of .

Operators

; *

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Specifications

* Length: * Diameter: * Wingspan: * Range: * Propulsion: Dual thrust solid rocket * Speed: 146.19 m/s (327 mph) - low-subsonic, 28 sec to 4 km max range * Overall weight: 93.5 kg (206 lb) * Warhead: HESH * Guidance:

Wire guided A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behi ...

MCLOS Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is steered with a ...

, using a thumb joystick and visual observation of two flares on the wings. * Number built: 1,000

References

Sources

*''War Machine encyclopedia'', Aerospace Publishing Ltd., pag. 253 (in Italian version printed by De Agostini, 1984). *''Rockets and Missiles'' - John W. R. Taylor - Hippo Books No 8 - Hamlyn, 1971 - {{UKmissiles Anti-tank guided missiles of Australia Anti-tank guided missiles of the United Kingdom Anti-tank guided missiles of the Cold War Military equipment introduced in the 1950s

Development and operations

Operators

Specifications

See also

References

Sources