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This clip shows the first testing of a full size version of the newly developed Ikara missile, conducted at Woomera from about December 1961 onwards.
Curator’s notes
In December 1961 the first full-scale unguided missile was tested, and then by April 1963 fully guided launch trials were underway. The weapon weighed 635 kilograms in total and was powered by a two stage solid propellant motor. It was almost five metres long with a wing span of just over two metres. The wings were removable and were fitted just before loading on to the launcher. It flew at about 440 kilometres per hour, locking into a height of about 300 metres at the end of the boost. It was guided by ship borne radar and transponder in the missile, with the information being processed and command signal provided by a computer on board ship. In the terminal phase of the flight path it was steered over to a sonar contact where it dropped a Mark 44 or Mark 46 torpedo, then dived into the sea well clear of the torpedo’s homing radius.
In an extended shot of Ikara in flight, accompanied only by music, the aestheticised weapon’s destruction capability is belied as the missile becomes completely bird-like.
