BGM-71 TOW

The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided", pronounced /ˈtoʊ/) is an American anti-tank missile. First produced in 1968, TOW is one of the most widely used anti-tank guided missiles. It can be found in a wide variety of manually carried and vehicle-mounted forms, as well as in widespread use on helicopters. Originally designed by Hughes Aircraft in the 1960s, the weapon is currently produced by RTX.

TOW was designed to address the shortcomings of previous missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC. In particular, there was a desire to improve the guidance system to make it easier to use, and greatly increase effective range. Earlier designs generally used a small joystick to directly control the missile's flight while the operator attempted to get it to line up with the target, a concept now known as MACLOS. In practice, users tended to overcorrect and fly the missile back and forth across the target. TOW used a new system that simply required the operator to keep a gunsight aligned on the target, and the electronics would calculate the control inputs needed, a concept today known as SACLOS. It did this by looking for a bright infrared lamp on the back of the missile and comparing that to the line-of-sight of the gunsight. The sights could also be equipped with infrared cameras or image intensifiers for night-time use, and it had roughly double the range of the earlier designs.

TOW was rapidly deployed on a wide range of man portable and light vehicles like jeeps and a variety of dedicated light armoured vehicles like the M901. The need for the missile to be visible in the sights for the guidance system to work meant that it was initially not suitable for launch from helicopters, as these might be firing at targets to one side or the other while the missile would be held facing forward. This led to the introduction of a new sighting system that could calculate the angle between the sights and the tube and quickly steer it into the sights. This became one of the TOW's most widely used applications, and was the primary armament of many Cold War era attack helicopters among many western forces.

TOW was among the most widely used weapons of its class from the 1960s into to the 1980s when a number of new systems began to replace it in certain roles. For helicopter use, the laser guided AGM-114 Hellfire began to replace TOW in the 1980s, and more recently, smaller missiles like FGM-148 Javelin using top-attack profiles have largely replaced TOW in the man-portable roles. TOW remains widely used in vehicle mounts, but in US use the CCMS-H is planned to replace it in these roles.