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The BGM-71 TOW is an anti-tank guided missile
Anti-tank guided missile

An anti-tank guided missile or anti-tank guided weapon is a Missile guidance missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored tanks and other armored fighting vehicles....
. "TOW" stands for "Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-to-command-Link" guided Missile Set. The TOW was first produced in 1970 and is the most widely used anti-tank guided missile in the world.

ially developed by Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The group was based near Ballona Creek, in Culver City, California....
 between 1963 and 1968, the XBGM-71A was designed for both ground and heli-borne applications. In 1968 a contract for fullscale production was awarded to Hughes, and by 1970 the system was being fielded by the US Army.






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The BGM-71 TOW is an anti-tank guided missile
Anti-tank guided missile

An anti-tank guided missile or anti-tank guided weapon is a Missile guidance missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored tanks and other armored fighting vehicles....
. "TOW" stands for "Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-to-command-Link" guided Missile Set. The TOW was first produced in 1970 and is the most widely used anti-tank guided missile in the world.

History

Initially developed by Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The group was based near Ballona Creek, in Culver City, California....
 between 1963 and 1968, the XBGM-71A was designed for both ground and heli-borne applications. In 1968 a contract for fullscale production was awarded to Hughes, and by 1970 the system was being fielded by the US Army. When adopted, the BGM-71 series replaced the M40
M40 recoilless rifle

The M40 recoilless rifle was a lightweight, portable, crew-served 105 mm weapon intended primarily as an anti-tank weapon made in the United States....
 106mm recoilless rifle
Recoilless rifle

A recoilless gun or recoilless rifle is a lightweight form of weapon that allows the firing of a heavier projectile than would be practical with a recoiling weapon....
 and the MGM-32 ENTAC
ENTAC

Entac or MGM-32A was a France MCLOS Wire-guided missile Anti-tank missile. Developed in the early 1950s, the missile entered service with the French army in 1957....
 missile system then in service. The missile also replaced the AGM-22B
SS.11

SS.11 is the designation of the Nord Aviation MCLOS Wire-guided missile anti-tank missile. In United States service the missile was designated the AGM-22....
 then in service as a heli-borne anti-tank weapon.

Vietnam: First combat use of TOW anti-armor missile


On 24 April 1972, the US 1st Combat Aerial TOW Team arrived in South Vietnam; the team's mission was to test the new anti-armor missile under combat conditions. The team consisted of three crews, technical representatives from Bell Helicopter and Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The group was based near Ballona Creek, in Culver City, California....
, members of the US Army Missile Command
Missile Command

Missile Command is a 1980 arcade game by Atari that was also licensed to Sega for European release.The plot of Missile Command is simple: the player's six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of them even splitting like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles , and in later levels smart...
, and two UH-1B helicopters; each mounting the XM26 TOW weapons system. After displacing to the Central Highlands
Central Highlands

Central Highlands is the name for several mountainous regions located in the center of the nations or geographical regions.*Central Highlands ...
 for aerial gunnery, the unit commenced daily searches for enemy armor. On 09 May, elements of the NVA
NVA

NVA is a three-letter acronym for:*National Volleyball Association*National Vulvodynia Association, an educational, nonprofit organization founded to disseminate information on treatment options for vulvodynia...
 (North Vietnamese Army) 203rd Armored Regiment were attacking the ARVN (Army Republic of South Vietnam) Ranger camp at Ben Het; the team destroyed it's first three PT-76
PT-76

The PT-76 is a Soviet light tank amphibious vehicle tank which was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armies....
 tanks, breaking up the attack.. During the battle for the city of Kontum
Kontum

Kontum or Kon Tum is the capital town Kon Tum Province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the T?y Nguy?n region of Vietnam, near the borders with Laos and Cambodia....
, the TOW
TOW

Tow may refer to :* Towing, the process of pulling or drawing behind a chain or line* Tow, an untwisted bundle of filaments* List of Cars characters#Tow, a character in the film Cars...
 missile had proven to be a significant weapon in disrupting enemy tank attacks within the region. By the end of May, TOW missiles had accumulated 24 confirmed tank kills.

Other Service


The TOW missile was continually upgraded, with an improved TOW missile appearing in 1978, TOW 2 in 1983, and TOW 2A/B in 1987. Even as recently as 2001, TOW improvement has continued.

Several TOW missiles were used by U.S. forces in Iraq in the July 22, 2003 assault that killed Uday Hussein
Uday Hussein

Uday Saddam Hussayn al-Tikriti , was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein and his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the older brother of Qusay Saddam....
 and Qusay Hussein
Qusay Hussein

Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikritieh was the second son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's family dictatorship in 2000....
.

Variants

Raytheon
Raytheon

Raytheon Company is a major United States defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in defense systems and defense and commercial electronics....
 has taken over for Hughes in recent years, and now handles production of all current variants, as well as TOW development.
Designation Description Length Diameter Wingspan Launch weight Warhead Armor penetration (est.) Range Speed
XBGM-71A/BGM-71AHughes Tube launched Optically tracked Wire command link guided (TOW) Missile 1.16 m 0.152 m 0.46 m 18.9 kg 3.9 kg (2.63 kg HE) HEAT 600 mm 65-3,750 m 278 m/s
BGM-71BBGM-71A variant; improved range
BGM-71CBGM-71B variant; Improved TOW (ITOW) w/ improved shaped-charge warhead1.41 m (probe extended)
1.17 m (probe folded)		 19.1 kg 800 mm
BGM-71DBGM-71C variant; TOW-2, improved guidance, motor and enlarged main warhead 1.51 m (probe extended)
1.17 m (probe folded)		 21.5 kg 5.9 kg
(3.6 kg HE) HEAT		 900 mm
BGM-71EBGM-71D variant; TOW-2A optimised to defeat reactive armour
Reactive armour

Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected....
 with tandem warheads		 22.6 kg 1,000 mm ( behind ERA )
(and layer of ERA)
BGM-71FBGM-71D variant; TOW-2B top-down attack
Top attack

A Top Attack device is designed to attack armoured vehicles from above and/or behind, as their armour is usually thinnest at the rear and the top....
 variant using explosively formed penetrators		1.168 m no data
BGM-71GBGM-71F variant; different AP warhead
Armor-piercing shot and shell

An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships....
; not produced		 no data no data no data no data
BGM-71HBGM-71E variant; “bunker buster” variant for use against fortified structures no data no data no data no data


Hughes developed a TOW missile with a wireless data link in 1989, referred to as TOW-2N, but this weapon was not adopted for use by the US military. Raytheon continued to develop improvements to the TOW line, but its FOTT (Follow-On To TOW) program was canceled in 1998, and its TOW-FF (TOW-Fire and Forget) program was cut short in November 30, 2001 because of funding limitations. In 2001 and 2002, Raytheon and the US Army worked together on an extended range TOW 2B variant, initially referred to as TOW-2B (ER), but now called TOW-2B Aero. Although this missile has been in production since 2004, no US Army designation has yet been assigned.
Tow Atm
The TOW missile in its current variations is not a fire-and-forget weapon, and like most second generation wire-guided missiles has Semi-Automatic Command Line of Sight
SACLOS

SACLOS is a second-generation method of missile guidance. In SACLOS, the operator has to continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight....
 guidance. This means that the guidance system is directly linked to the platform, and requires that the target be kept in the shooter's line of sight until the missile impacts. This has been the major impetus to develop either a fire-and-forget version of the system or to develop a successor with this ability.

International variants

  • Iran
    Iran

    Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
     has reverse engineered and currently manufactures duplicate TOW missiles. These carry the Iranian designation of Toophan
    Toophan

    Toophan is an Iranian anti-tank missile that is a reverse-engineered copy of the US military BGM-71 TOW. The Toophan's payload is a 3.6kg high-explosive anti-tank warhead that can penetrate up to 550mm of steel armor....
    .


Launch platforms

Hmmwv 036
M901 Tow Latrun 3
The TOW is designated as a BGM by the US military. By its very definition, a BGM is a Multiple Launch Environment (B) Surface Attack (G) Guided Missile (M). The B launch environment prefix is used only when the system can be used essentially unmodified when launched from a variety of launch platforms.

The M151 and M220 launchers are used by infantry, but can also be mounted on a number of vehicles, including the M151 jeep
Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler. It is the oldest off-road vehicle brand, with Land Rover coming in second. The original vehicle which first appeared as the prototype Bantam GP became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the US Army and allies during the World War II and postwar period....
, the M113 APC, the M966 HMMWV
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle is a military Four-wheel drive motor vehicle created by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles formerly served by the M151 1/4 ton MUTT, the Gama Goat, their M718A1 and M792 ambulance versions, the CUCV, and other light trucks with the Military of the United States, as well as being...
 and the M1045 HMMWV (which replaced the M966). These launchers are theoretically man-portable, but are quite bulky. The updated M151 launcher was upgraded to include thermal optics to allow night time usage, and had been simplified to reduce weight. The M220 was specifically developed to handle the TOW-2 series.

TOW systems have also been developed for vehicle specific applications on the M2/M3 Bradley IFV/CFV
M2 Bradley

The M2 Bradley IFV and M3 Bradley CFV are United States infantry fighting vehicles manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, .As with other infantry fighting vehicles, the Bradley is designed to transport infantry offering at least some armored protection while providing fire cover to dismounted troops and suppressing enemy ta...
, the M1134 Stryker
Stryker

The IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all wheel drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army....
 ATGM carrier, and the now obsolete M901 ITV (Improved TOW Vehicle)
M901 ITV

The M901 ITV is a United States Army armored vehicle designed to carry a dual M220 TOW launcher. It is based on the ubiquitous M113 Armored Personnel Carrier chassis....
; they are generally referred to as TOW Under Armor (TUA).

In helicopter applications, the M65 system
U.S. Helicopter Armament Subsystems

The United States military has developed a number of Helicopter Armament Subsystems since the early 1960s. These systems are used for offensive and defensive purposes and make use of a wide variety of weapon types including, but not limited to machine guns, grenade launchers, autocannon, and rockets....
 used by the AH-1
AH-1 Cobra

The AH-1 Cobra is a two-bladed, single engine attack helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron. It shares a common engine, Transmission and Helicopter rotor system with the older UH-1 Iroquois....
 series is the primary system deployed, but the XM26
U.S. Helicopter Armament Subsystems

The United States military has developed a number of Helicopter Armament Subsystems since the early 1960s. These systems are used for offensive and defensive purposes and make use of a wide variety of weapon types including, but not limited to machine guns, grenade launchers, autocannon, and rockets....
 system was developed for the UH-1, and a system was put into development for the later canceled AH-56
AH-56 Cheyenne

The AH-56 Cheyenne was a four-bladed, single-engine attack helicopter developed by Lockheed for the United States Army's Advanced Aerial Fire Support System program to produce the Army's first, dedicated attack helicopter....
 helicopter.

The M41 TOW improved target acquisition system (ITAS) is a block upgrade to the M220 ground/high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV)-mounted TOW 2 missile system. The TOW ITAS is currently being fielded to airborne, air assault, and light infantry forces throughout the active and reserve components of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. The ITAS, in addition to providing better antiarmor capabilities to antitank units, also has capabilities that make it an integral part of the combined arms team. Even when organized in heavy--light task forces, where the preponderance of antiarmor capabilities traditionally has resided in the heavy elements, TOW ITAS-equipped antitank units can not only destroy threat targets but also provide superior reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA), rear area protection, and urban operations capabilities.

The TOW ITAS consists of three new line replaceable units: the target acquisition subsystem (TAS), the fire control subsystem, and the battery power source; a modified TOW 2 traversing unit; the existing TOW launch tube and tripod; and a TOW HMMWV modification kit. The TAS integrates into a single housing the direct view optics, a second-generation forward looking infrared (FLIR) night vision sight (NVS), missile trackers, and a laser range finder. TAS electronics provide automatic boresighting for these components, eliminating both tactical collimation and 180-day verification requirements.

Operators

-most carried by HMMWV Somaliland
Somaliland

Somaliland is an autonomous region, which is part of the Somalia located in the Horn of Africa. The Republic of Somaliland considers itself to be the successor state of the former British Somaliland protectorate....
 - Lynx
Westland Lynx

The Westland Lynx is a British helicopter designed by and built Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants, which went into operational usage in 1977 and were later adopted by the armed for...
 helicopter only


See also

  • Swingfire
    Swingfire

    Swingfire is a United Kingdom wire-guided missile anti-tank guided missile....
  • Euromissile HOT
    Euromissile HOT

    HOT is an anti-tank missile system developed by Euromissile , a joint venture of France and Germany, and produced since 1978. It has become one of the most successful missiles of its class, used by no fewer than a dozen countries worldwide and has been validated in actual combat....
  • 9M133 Kornet
    9M133 Kornet

    The Kornet is a Military of Russia anti-tank missile . It is a heavy ATGM intended to replace an older generation of missiles in the Russian inventory, Kornet was designed to deal with current and future generations of main battle tanks and can also be used to engage slow and low flying aerial targets like helicopters....
  • M72 LAW
    M72 LAW

    The M72 LAW is a portable one-shot 66 mm unguided anti-tank weapon, designed in the United States by Paul V. Choate, Charles B. Weeks, and Frank A....
  • AT4
    AT4

    The AT4 is a portable one-shot anti-tank weapon built in Sweden by Saab Bofors Dynamics . In the United States and NATO inventory, it replaces the M72 LAW ....
  • Joint Air to Ground Missile
    Joint Air to Ground Missile

    The Joint Air to Ground Missile is a U.S. program to develop an air to surface missile to replace the current BGM-71 TOW, AGM-114 Hellfire and AGM-65 Maverick missiles....
  • History of UAVs decoys


Related content


Designation sequence

BGM-71 - MIM-72 - UGM-73
UGM-73 Poseidon

The Poseidon missile was the second US Navy ballistic missile system, powered by a two-stage solid fuel rocket. It succeeded the Polaris missile beginning in 1972, bringing major advances in warheads and accuracy....
 - BQM-74
BQM-74 Chukar

The BQM-74 Chukar is a series of aerial target Unmanned aerial vehicle produced by Northrop Grumman. The Chukar has gone through three major revisions, including the initial MQM-74A Chukar I, the MQM-74C Chukar II, and the BQM-74C Chukar III....
 - BGM-75 - AGM-76
AGM-76 Falcon

The AGM-76 Falcon is an air-to-surface missile developed by the United States of America....
 - FGM-77

External links