BGM-71 TOW

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BGM-71E TOW-2A

Tow atm.jpg

General Information
Type Anti-tank guided missile
Manufacturer Hughes
Commissioning 1970
Technical specifications
length 1410 mm
diameter 152 mm
Combat weight 22.6 kg
span 460 mm
drive Solid rocket engine
speed 278-320 m / s
Range 65-3,750 m
Furnishing
Target location SACLOS , via steering wire
Warhead 5.9 kg tandem shaped load
Weapon platforms Vehicles, helicopters and tripods
Lists on the subject

TOW stands for T ube Launched O ptically Tracked W ire Command-link Guided Missile and refers to a tube-launched, optically tracked wire-guided missiles , a US anti-tank missile . The U.S. Forces System Index is BGM-71 .

development

At the beginning of the 1960s, the US armed forces were looking for a replacement for the aging M40 recoilless gun and for the anti-tank guided weapons MGM-32 ENTAC and AGM-22 . The new system should be just as mobile and easy to use as the previous models. The development contract was awarded to Hughes , whereupon development work began in 1965. After an extremely short development period, series production began in 1968. The first copies were delivered to the US armed forces in 1970. After Hughes was taken over by Boeing , Raytheon took over the guided missiles division and also the production of the TOW. Outside the US, TOWs have been produced under license in various countries. Well over 620,000 TOWs have been produced so far.

technology

A TOW can be deployed from various platforms: tripod mounts, vehicles and helicopters. In the basic version , the TOW is used with the M220 starting system . This essentially comprises a tripod splay mount , the optical target tracking unit, the locating device and the power supply unit. From 1976 the night vision device TAS-4 was introduced by Texas Instruments , which could be attached to the target device. From 1998 to 2003, the US Army procured 709 units of the TOW Improved Target Acquisition System (TOW ITAS) control system developed by Raytheon . This has an integrated night vision device, a laser rangefinder and an improved fire control computer. The TOW ITAS is used on vehicles of the type HMMWV and for the ground-based TOW.

The fiberglass-reinforced launch and transport tube with the missile can be placed on the top mount next to the target tracking unit. Once the shooter has aimed at the target, he pulls the trigger and ignites both the power generator of the guided missile and the launch engine, which ejects the guided missile from the tube. At a distance of 10 to 12 m, the low-smoke cruise engine ignites and accelerates the guided missile to 278–320 m / s. The solid rocket motor is supplied by Orbital ATK . After a burn time of 1.6 to 2.0 seconds, this is burned out and the guided missile continues to fly without propulsion. To fly through the entire range of 3750 m, the guided missile needs just under 20 seconds. The final speed at this point is still around 200 m / s. During the flight, the guided missile unwinds two wires through which it receives steering commands. The TOW works according to the SACLOS steering system (semi-automatic command steering). In this case, the locating device of the missile tracked via a rear-mounted Xenon - infrared emitters. Guiding commands are calculated in the target tracking unit and transmitted to the guided missile via the wire connection. During the flight, the shooter only needs to keep the target in the crosshairs . The TOW-2B version changes its course independently in the last phase of the flight and sits over the target. The two downward-facing EFP warheads are detonated using a laser and magnetic sensor (so-called top attack ). With this attack profile, the warheads only have to penetrate the thin roof armor of the main battle tank. You can also fight targets that are in cover.

variants

  • BGM-71A TOW: First series version from 1968. Range 3,000 m; with a 3.9 kg shaped charge , armor penetration 430 mm RHA .
  • BGM-71B TOW: Second production version from 1976. Range 3,750 m. Mainly developed for use from helicopters; over 314,000 guided missiles of the A and B series were manufactured.
  • BGM-71C I-TOW: Introduced in 1981 under the name Improved TOW . Equipped with a larger warhead with a diameter of 126 mm and a spacer spike , armor penetration 630 mm RHA. Over 60,000 pieces produced.
  • BGM-71D TOW-2: Introduced in 1984. With improved electronics and a new 5.9 kg hollow charge with 152 mm diameter, armor penetration 800–900 mm RHA. Around 78,000 pieces produced.
  • BGM-71E TOW-2A: Introduced in 1986; with tandem hollow charge to combat reactive armor , armor penetration 900–1,020 mm RHA. Over 51,000 pieces made.
  • BGM-71F TOW-2B: new version from 1993; with new electronics and a more interference-free control system for the so-called top attack : the guided missile flies over the target and detonates two downward-facing EFP warheads using sensors . Around 40,000 pieces produced.
  • BGM-71G: Version for combating field fortifications; (with so-called. BLAAM warhead B unkers, L ight A rmour A nd M asonry) only produced in small series.
  • BGM-71H: Version with a warhead for fighting concrete bunkers; also known as TOW Bunker Buster , in use since 2001.
  • TOW-2B Aero: Version of the BGM-71F with an increased range of 4,500 m, introduced in 2004.
  • TOW-2B Aero RF: Version of the BGM-71F with radio command control; Range 4,500 m, introduced in 2006.
  • MAPATS: Version by IMI from Israel ; Equipped with a laser guidance system.
  • Toophan : version from Iran ; replicated using reverse engineering .

Deployment platforms

Launch of the TOW anti-tank guided missile from a Bradley armored personnel carrier
helicopter
vehicles

commitment

The BGM-71 TOW was first used by the US Army's 1st Combat Aerial TOW Team during the Vietnam War in 1972 to test the new missile under operational conditions. The TOW was mounted on a UH-1B Huey with the help of the XM-26 weapon station and used against enemy tanks of the North Vietnamese army . Within two months, 24 enemy tanks (including many PT-76s ) were destroyed. Then it was used in the First Gulf War . The US armed forces used the BGM-71 TOW in almost every high-intensity conflict, including Operation Desert Storm , Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and the 2003 Iraq War . It was also used in the war on terrorism and is used by parts of the opposition , especially after Saudi Arabia delivered more than 500 systems in the Syrian civil war .

User states

US Army's Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS) TOW system (2007)
Start of a TOW from an HMMWV

literature

Web links

Commons : BGM-71 TOW  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ammunition data sheet of the Bundeswehr No. 1410-1512-1 LENKFLUGKÖRPER, BODENZIEL, BGM-71A1 (US), anti-tank defense, Tow footnote 1
  2. ↑ Missile.index , accessed October 4, 2011 (English / Japanese)
  3. ^ A b c Richard D. Jones: Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010. Jane's Information Group ; 35 edition (January 27, 2009), ISBN 978-0-7106-2869-5 .
  4. ↑ Ian Hogg: Infantry Support Weapons. Pp. 120–121, Waffen und Gerät Volume 4, Motorbuch Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-613-01843-8 .
  5. ↑ orbitalatk.com accessed February 7, 2016
  6. ↑ Saudi Arabia just replenished Syrian rebels with one of the most effective weapons against the Assad regime. uk.businessinsider.com, October 9, 2015, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  7. ↑ American Anti-Tank Weapons Appear in Syrian Rebel Hands. In: The Huffington Post . April 9, 2014, accessed April 30, 2015 .
  8. ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Kindsenthauptung-durch-moderate-Rebellen-3276710.html
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