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The TOW, the Army’s first heavy anti-tank missile, first saw combat killing tanks in the Vietnam War.
The Army wants a new missile with a range at least double that of the TOW.
The U.S. Army is preparing to say goodbye to an old friend. The Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) anti-tank missile has served the Army for 50 years, tracking and destroying enemy armor in jungles, deserts, and even cities. The service wants a new missile that can travel twice as far, but also kill tanks closer than ever.
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In the early 1970s, the Army fielded what was then the heaviest, longest-range anti-tank missile in the world. The Army, facing down thousands of Soviet tanks in Europe, needed a weapon system that could kill tanks accurately at long ranges, even beyond the range of tank guns. That missile was the BGM-71 TOW.