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The Ikara missile was an Australian ship-launched anti-submarine missile, named after an Australian Aboriginal word for "throwing stick". It launched an acoustic torpedo to a range of , allowing fast-reaction attacks against submarines at ranges that would otherwise require the launching ship too close for attack, placing itself at risk. Also, by flying to the general area of the target, the engagement time was dramatically reduced, giving the target less time to respond. Submariners referred to IKARA as "Insufficient Knowledge And Random Action". ==Design and development== With the development of nuclear power, submarine performance, especially speed, improved dramatically, as did the threat they posed. Simultaneously, sonar detection capability at long range was also improving significantly but the weapons available to surface escort warships were still of the short-range variety. The final British development of the A/S mortar was the Limbo mortar, able to fire in all directions but limited to a maximum range of . Even the latest modern Mark 46 lightweight torpedoes are limited in range to , and at their speed of would take 8.5 minutes to travel that distance, and are consequently unable to attack time-urgent targets at extended ranges. Known initially under the rainbow code name Blue Duck, the Ikara was a "Rocket-Thrown-Weapon" with similarities to the French ''Malafon.'' It differed from Malafon, in that the torpedo was semi recessed in the body of missile body rather than mounted in the nose. Ikara's range at was double that of ASROC.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Record Summary )〕 Ikara was generally considered a superior system to ASROC as it was accurately guided during flight to ensure optimal targeting. A submarine would be aware from sonar contacts that it was about to be attacked and could engage in evasive changes of course. In ASROC's flight time to maximum range of 55 seconds,〔 a submarine travelling at would move from its position at launch, and a prediction would be made of the submarine's likely position at torpedo splashdown. But during the design of Ikara around 1960 the range of the acoustic seeker of the Mk.44 torpedo was limited to and consequently its kill probability was low. The range of the acoustic seeker was later improved.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Record Summary )〕 The Turana target drone was designed and built in Australia as a development of the Ikara anti-submarine weapon system. It was a target drone with remote control that was launched from the Ikara launcher for use in naval anti-aircraft target practice. Ikara was powered by a two-stage in-line solid-fuel ''Murawa'' rocket engine developed by Bristol Aerojet Ltd in the UK〔()〕 and was guided by radio command link until it reached the vicinity of the submarine, determined by the ship's sonar contact, where it would first jettison the rear ventral fin and torpedo rear covering and then release its 12.7 inch Mark 44 or Mark 46 acoustically-guided anti-submarine torpedo. The torpedo payload would descend by parachute while the missile itself was programmed to splashdown some distance away to avoid interference with the acoustic torpedo's seeker head. The torpedo would then begin a circular search pattern to find and lock-on a submarine contact. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ikara (missile)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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