TUCSON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Raytheon said it has successfully tested a new propulsion system for its tube-launched, optically tracked wireless missile.
The improved TOW system doubles the missile's range and reduces its flight time by one-third, Raytheon said in a release Tuesday.
"We brought an Insensitive Munitions propulsion system to a technology readiness level that can be demonstrated to our government customer and which greatly reduces the research and development costs necessary to provide this enhancement to an existing combat-proven system," said Raytheon Missile Systems Land Combat Vice President Michelle Lohmeier.
Raytheon Missile Systems TOW Program Director Scott Speet added, "This launch, boost, sustain technology greatly enhances the TOW gunner's survivability by allowing us to engage targets outside the threat range of direct engagement systems and by reducing the time we must track a target."
Variants of the TOW system have been deployed by U.S. military forces in every American conflict since Vietnam and are being utilizing by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
