Nulka is an Australian-designed and developed active missiledecoy built by an American/Australian collaboration.[1][2] Used aboard warships of theUnited States Navy,Royal Australian Navy,United States Coast Guard andRoyal Canadian Navy,[3] Nulka is a rocket-propelled, disposable, offboard,active decoy designed to lureanti-ship missiles away from their targets. It has a unique design in that it hovers in mid-air while drawing the incoming anti-ship missile. The hovering rocket concept was initiated in Australia by theDefence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), and the system was designed, developed and then manufactured byAWA Defence Industries (nowBAE Systems Australia). BAE refers to Nulka as a "soft-kill defence system".[4] The word "Nulka" is ofAustralian Aboriginal origin and means "be quick".
The Nulka consists of the missile itself enclosed in a hermetically sealed canister. This canister is then contained in a dedicated launcher module, adjacent to and used in tandem with theMark 36 launcher (if fitted).
By July 2017, Nulka had been fitted to more than 150 Australian, Canadian, and United States warships,[4] and over 1,400 decoys had been produced.[5] As of October 2010[update], it was expected that the system would be fitted to U.S. Navy'sNimitz-classaircraft carriers as well as Australia's future destroyers.[6] This made the system Australia's most successful defence export.[7]
In 2012, Lockheed Martin announced that it had successfully tested its new ExLS (Extensible Launching System) for Nulka. The tests were conducted at theRAAF Woomera Range Complex, Australia.[8]
At around 19:00 local time on 9 October 2016, when off the Yemeni coast, the guided-missile destroyerUSS Mason deployed its Nulka decoy when it and two other US warships,USS Ponce andUSS Nitze, came under fire by two missiles fired byHouthi rebels.[9]
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