Australian Toolondo ATGM program

[Pioneer]

G'day all

Just found the following reference to the following 1950's Australian Toolondo ATGM program:

Although the pioneering research and development undertaken by the Department of Supply during the 1950s placed Australia among the world leaders in antitank guided weapons (ATGW), the only sales were to
Britain in the form of the heavy antitank missile, Malkara (see ARMY Magazine No, 31).

Other ATGW, suitable for infantry use, had been under consideration and some development work had been done on a small missile called Toolondo.

But the advantage was never exploited and the project was, eventually shelved. The Australian Army had not shown much enthusiasm during the development phases for either large or small ATGW, preferring to
simply keep an eye on developments.

I've Googled and did a couple of searches on this forum, without any luck......
Does anyone have any insight to this program?

Regards
Pioneer

 

[GTX]

I assume this is the source you were referring to:

 

[GTX]

I did see the following:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30021889
Which mentions this:

...the Australian Army elected to adopt the French Entac ATGW in the early 1960s, despite the promising results already obtained in Australia from the smaller Project E missile, named Toolondo, which had been developed in parallel with the larger Malkara.

Following up the "Project E missile" reference, there is some information in this book:

From the book, it says:

Project E never got beyond the test vehicle stage, but was intended to lead to a small anti-tank guided weapon, portable enough to allow two infantrymen to assault a tank...A maximum range of 1.4 kilometres was specified...It would have been fitted with a small shaped charge warhead [Note: elsewhere in the book it mentions a 7kg warhead]

Some photos from the book:

Note that in the last photo, the person on the right is Dr J. R. Green who was primarily responsible for the design.

 

[Petrus]

At https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar-uk-fv4010-malkara/ you'll find info on the Project E missile as follows:

Australia had also been working on a smaller ATGM known as Project E, a 70 lb (31.7kg) wire-guided missile with a 15 lb 4.5 inch (6.8 kg – 114 mm) HEAT warhead and a maximum range of about 2000 yards (1.8km).

P.

 

[Pioneer]

I assume this is the source you were referring to:

Yes, thanks, GTX, it is.

Regards
Pioneer

 

[Pioneer]

At https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar-uk-fv4010-malkara/ you'll find info on the Project E missile as follows:

P.

Thank you kindly Petrus

Regards
Pioneer

 

[GTX]

For what it's worth the NAA also has this reference actually using the "Toolondo" name:

 

[Pioneer]

For what it's worth the NAA also has this reference actually using the "Toolondo" name:

View attachment 790925

Cheers Greg!

Regards
Pioneer

 

[Scott Kenny]

So, Aussie AT3 equivalent? Maybe a little bigger?