The BGM-71 TOW is an anti-tank missile. "BGM" is a weapon classification that stands for "Multiple Environment (B), Surface-Attack (G), Missile (M)". "TOW" is an acronym that stands for "Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile". The TOW was first produced in 1970 and is one of the two most widely used anti-tank guided missiles in the world.
Initially developed by Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...

 between 1963 and 1968, the XBGM-71A was designed for both ground and heli-borne applications.