BGM-71 TOW

Description

The TOW missile (the launch tube, missile with fins folded, and deployed missile are shown; scale is approximate)

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• CM25
• Dardo
• M3A3 Bradley
• VCC-80/30
• Wiesel 1A2

General info

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Effective damage

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Penetration statistics
	Penetration (mm) @ Angle of Attack (°)
	0	30	90
BGM-71A TOW	430	372	215
BGM-71C I-TOW	630	546	315
BGM-71D TOW-2	800	693	400

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

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HAW

Fall of 1958, the Army's Office of Ordnance Research and Development formed the Ad Hoc Working Group at the Ballistic Research Laboratories (BRL) to define a future replacement for the SS.10 and 11. The team included members from Picatinny Arsenal, Frankford Arsenal, Redstone Arsenal, Watervliet Arsenal, Detroit Arsenal and Harry Diamond Laboratories. 

Manual guidance systems (MCLOS) of earlier weapons like SS.11 were found to be difficult to use as the relative movements of the launcher and target increased; MCLOS worked well for stationary launchers and slow-moving targets, but had proven much more difficult to use from moving vehicles, especially helicopters.

Experience and issues with the MGM-51 Shillelagh missile especially the infrared link proved relatively unreliable in the field and was subject to countermeasures like random flashing IR lamps. For the shorter ranges envisioned for HAW, wire-guidance was perfectly suitable and both much less expensive and largely immune to countermeasures.

TOW

The resulting design was tube-launched, optically tracked, and wire-guided. BRL programmer Harry Reed immediately christened it "TOW" (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided), a name that the system carried into production.

Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.