Tank hunter-killer teams were spotted in war-torn Bakhmut, Ukraine.
The ongoing battle for Bakhmut is still the most intense fighting along the frontline where now also spotted new Ukrainian squads on HMMWVs equipped with Raytheon’s BGM-71 TOW missiles.
The US-made anti-tank guides missile system is mounted atop a Humvee.
TOW – which originally stood for Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided – is a crew portable, vehicle-mounted, heavy anti-armor weapon system.
The TOW is an anti-tank missile with a longer effective range and a larger warhead than previous missiles. It consists of a launcher and a missile that can be effectively employed in all weather conditions to engage tanks; other armored vehicles; and various point targets such as bunkers, crew-served weapons and launchers, and non-armored vehicles. It also has a limited self-defense capability against threat helicopters.
The launcher consists of a launch tube, traversing unit, missile guidance set (MGS), night sight, battery assembly, optical sight, tripod, overpack, shroud, and carrying strap. The all-up round missile is encased in a disposable launch container. The TOW can be operated from the ground, vehicles, or helicopters. It is mounted on the Improved TOW Vehicle (ITV), the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV), the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), and the COBRA helicopter. A total of 46 allied nations use the TOW, and it is co-produced in Switzerland.
