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It uses a shaped-charge warhead.
As the missile heads to it's target, the gunner
holds the sight's cross hairs on the target.
The sight sends a signal through a thin wire
that is pulled out the tail of the missile.
This signal is processed by a computer that
moves gas operated fins on the missile body.
These fins allow the TOW to be guided to moving targets.
The missile has two motors.
One launches it several meters from the tube,
where the flight motor takes over for up to 1.5 secs.
They are both solid propellant motors.
It's main flaw is that it makes a cloud
of easy to see smoke when it is fired.
Also, the gunner must keep the target
in the sight's cross-hairs until it hits.
This makes it vulnerable to counter fire.
Because of it's large size, it is usually mounted on vehicles.
The TOW Weapon System entered its Production and
Deployment phase with the Basic TOW in 1970.
It saw action in the Second Indo-China War
w/ U.S. and ARVN units.
Since that time, there have been five variations of the
missile and two variations of the TOW subsystem.
It has a range from 65 m to 3,700 m.
40 countries use it.
The First 3 Versions
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