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The First Sgt already explained to you that TOW is capable of being man packed and is at times dismounted and moves with the Infantry. TOW is assigned in the Marine Corps at BN level Infantry BN. It is then attached out at Company level and moves ethier mounted or dismounted as mission dictates. Your splitting hairs. |
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Dear Member, Yes, I guess I was splitting hairs and did not make myself clearer. I was just trying to make it clear that the TOW was not in the same catagory as the MILAN, Sagger or DRAGON and should have used a better way of explaining it to the member. Sorry, for any misunderstanding. Last, I did an article on the TOW back in the early 1980s (ie I even tracked down the first picture of the first TOW kill in Vietnam). I am going to start another topic and post some of the photos I was sent and acquired on the TOW. I have a bunch of them emplaced on the ground mount. Jack E. Hammond |
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Dear Jack(sorry couldn't resist),
I used to teach TOW gunnery in the ARMY. I think we can agree that the Dragon is a medium AT weapon and the TOW is a heavy AT weapon. The Dragon was carried by our rifle companies while the TOW was initially part of Combat Support Companies which, along with a 106 mm recoilless rifle turned TOW platoon, included a heavy (4.2 inch) mortar platoon, the battalion's scout platoon, and at one time the BN's anti-aircraft missiles (Redeye). I was, at different times, the PSG of each of those platoons. This was before the Army reorganized and created the companies I mentioned that consisted of only TOWs. All of these That pic of the TOW in Vietnam might be the one that was fired by U.S. soldiers in combat near Kontum, when airborne TOW missiles destroyed four captured American M41 tanks, an artillery gun, and a truck. It happened in May, 1972. Check out http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/firsts/firsts.html DTop |
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The first time I realised that the TOW could be man packed was after I saw a doco on the Israeli army some years back.
The Israeli troopers had it in sections and even the guy with the tube was making good pace although it looked darned heavy and awkward, glad it was them, not me. Here is some info on BILL 2. Pansarvarn RBS 56 BILL The Bofors BILL 2 multi-mission guided weapon is a further development of the highly successful BILL system. In BILL 2 Bofors has refined the Overfly Top-attack technology (OTA), already proven to be the only effective tank killing method for the future, enhanced the capability with a dual-warhead, and created new modes for different target types such as non-armoured vehicles and soft targets. The BILL missile works in top attack mode with the strike angle at 30 degrees to the horizontal, ensuring the shortest route of penetration of the armour, and at least 25% to 50% of the warhead energy is delivered to the interior of the tank. The guidance system is guidance-by-wire. BILL works in a top attack mode whereby the missile travels on a trajectory over the top of the target tank just above the turret roof at a height 75cm above the gunner's line of sight avoiding the heavily protected frontal arc. As the missile travels over the top of the tank, the downward canted warhead ignites, is directed at the vulnerable roof of the tank and the jet of the plasticised metal warhead penetrates the tank. The missile is 90 cm in length with body diameter 15 cm. The missile and launch tube weigh 20 kg. And to increase combat flexibility the gunner has two more firing modes at his command. The warhead arrangement, with its vertically striking shaped charges, compensated for dynamic effects, have demonstrated BILL 2’s very high Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP). Any MBT, old or new, whether equipped with the most advanced add-on/integrated protection or not, will be effectively and immediately put out-of-action. The effective combat range for both static and moving targets is 150-2,200 meters and the flight time at maximum range is 13 seconds. BILL 2 has a SACLOS guidance system and the missile is wire-guided. The guidance system contains a flight simulator with a computerised model in the sight, simulating the whole target engagement. A parallel engagement simulation in real time is created via the continuous comparisons made between simulation and reality, using processed in-put signals from the missile tracker and the angle indicator. The laser beacon in the aft of the missile transmits individually coded laser signals back to the sight (missile tracker), making the system immune to jamming. The missile system incorporates both an interactive, dual-purpose sensor system and an impact fuze. |
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