Kuwait Asks: Can You Give Us a TOW?

TOW-2A cutaway

The TOW 2A is an improved version of the original Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided missile that’s designed for “bunker busting” attacks on fortifications, bunkers and urban structures. It can also defeat reactive armor if used against tanks et. al. The TOW 2A has a range of 3,750m.

The TOW 2B, meanwhile, features a dual-mode sensor and a new armament section equipped with 2 warheads substantially different from those used in other TOW versions. Earlier TOWs are direct-attack missiles with nose-mounted warheads that fire forward. The TOW 2B is designed to fly over the top of a tank and destroy it from above, where it is less heavily armored, by simultaneously detonating the missile’s two Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) warheads downward. The fly-over shoot-down flight profile also permits the attack of targets in defilade, or protected by berms or other fortifications. TOW 2B resembles the TOW 2A, with a 6-inch diameter warhead section in front, but without the standoff probe.

TOW RF variants add a new wireless radio frequency command data link, rather than the wire connection that the anti-armor missile has used since it was introduced more than 30 years ago. Canada was the first TOW2 RF export customer, but Israel has also requested the missiles. Now Kuwait has added its own request, which follows up on a 2005 DSCA request for TOW-2A and TOW-2B missiles…