IKARA (Anti-submarine) Missile System: Australia’s Cold War Wonder Weapon

Ikara - Australia’s Cold War Wonder Weapon

Source of text & video: Naval Historical Society of Australia
Youtube: @navalhistoricalsocietyofau2228

Website: https://navyhistory.au/

No single weapons platform at sea benefited more from the rapid advances in post-WW2 military technology than the submarine. The evolution of atomic power and guided missile delivery systems resulted in submarines becoming the apex predators at sea, as well as instruments of potential global annihilation. This in turn created an ever-greater need for effective stand-off antisubmarine warfare defences within a field of operations that presented enormous technological challenges for the major naval powers to overcome. Yet one of the most significant advances in the ASW domain was to emerge from a small player in the form of Australia, and from 1959 onwards create the foundations for that nation’s future defence industries and defence science innovation. From drawing board to operational service, the narrative of the Ikara ASW system provides a fascinating insight as to how this project transformed Australia into a viable producer of high-quality military hardware on the world stage.

Music:
The Visionaries Suite - The Voyagers, Background 1
March Royal Australian Navy

kara was based on work previously carried out in the early 1950s on the Malkara wire-guided missile.

The Ikara weapon system was conceived to exploit the longer detection ranges of increasingly sophisticated sonar equipment and make the best possible use of the search and detection capabilities of modern homing torpedoes. It did this by carrying the torpedo in a fast winged missile that was launched from the ship and accurately guided to the target area by radio commands. The missile was then commanded to release its torpedo which parachuted into the sea in the best position to track down the submarine.

Source: Defence Science and Technology Group
https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/innova...