U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), hold security in a Humvee during an amphibious assault at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Dec. 14, 2013. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Caleb McDonald/Released)
The American BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system has finally made an appearance in the Russian special military operation zone in Ukraine.
On January 3, a photo of an M1167 Humvee TOW missile carrier that was captured by Russian troops on Kherson front a while ago surfaced online.
The photo shows the Humvee’s M41 TOW improved target acquisition system (ITAS), which usually includes a forward looking infrared sight, night vision sight and a laser rangefinder. The system can be also equipped with a position attitude determination subsystem that uses differential GPS tracking to relay precise coordinate data to the operator.
The ITAS can fire different versions of TOW missiles, including the BGM-71E which can penetrate 900 mm of rolled homogeneous armour behind explosive reactive armor and has a range of 3,750 meters, the BGM-71F that has a top-attack warhead and a range of 4,500 meters and the BGM-71E bunker buster with a range of 4,200 meters. Each M1167 vehicle can carry up to six missiles.
TOW missiles are effective. Nevertheless, they are guided via semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) which make them vulnerable to IR jammers.
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- Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
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- Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
In August 2022 the United States Department of Defense announced that it would be sending 1,500 TOW ATGMs to Ukraine. At the time, the department didn’t provide any details on the version it will be supplying.
The TOW system will not likely pose a new challenge to the Russian military, which has been dealing with similar and even more advanced ATGMs since the start of the special operation in Ukraine. The U.S. decision to supply Kiev forces with these missiles was likely the result of shortage in more advanced systems, like the FGM-148 Javelin.
