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 missile in the late 1960s.

The basic form was later adapted for the short-range surface-to-air role as the Seacat and influenced the development of the Ikara.

Although testing at Dorset apparently achieved an impressive 90% Pkill, in service the missiles were not considered a great success, due to three principal failures: However, lessons learned from the Malkara project led to improvements in later programs.

Malkara was unusual among anti-tank missiles in that it had a High-explosive squash head (HESH), also known as High Explosive Plastic (HEP), warhead instead of the more usual shaped charge HEAT (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.