LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Raytheon's U.S. Army contract for a wireless TOW anti-tank missile will have an initial value of more than $163 million, the company said Tuesday.
Tucson-based Raytheon received the order last month that includes five 1-year options and will bring Army anti-tank gunners into the wireless age by eliminating the long wire that has guided the TOW missile to its targets for more than 30 years.
"The wireless TOW provides the soldier and Marine with the next logical step in the evolution of this proven weapon system," Raytheon Vice President Jim Riley said in a release. "This increases the tactical superiority and versatility of a system that continues to prove itself in ongoing combat operations."
TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) is a vehicle-mounted missile designed to knock out enemy tanks; however it has also proven its worth in the Iraqi theatre as a precision weapon against buildings and other insurgent positions that works with minimal collateral damage.
The wireless version of TOW allows the crew to maneuver the rocket with a wireless data link that is built inside the missile. Raytheon said that because it is an internal change, the wireless TOW can be fired from existing launchers without the need for any changes in tactics or crew training.
