Matrix Games

Welcome to a new format of Editorial we are trying out, The Armory.

Matrix Games are built on historical authenticity, with many of the units, vehicles, and weapons in our titles being modeled in detail on real-life performance characteristics. With that in mind we are going to go over some of the historical background of weapon systems and vehicles, their tactical use in real life, and how they are implemented in our games. This is not an exclusively technical look at a piece of equipment, but a wider view of it’s operational history and employment. To start off we are going to be looking at a weapon system that has been in service in the United States military for over fifty years, the TOW. The game we will be looking at for this is Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm, set in 1989 when anti-tank guided missiles were a crucial tool in a shooting war between the superpowers.

TOW stands for Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided. What this means is that a missile is connected by wires to a command module. When the weapon is fired the wires spool out behind the warhead, allowing the user to send control signals to the missile, guiding it onto the target. The TOW is optically tracked meaning all the gunner needs to do is keep the reticle of his optic on the target, and the missile will fly in a more or less straight line to the target. This is also referred to as semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS). In the era of fire and forget ATGM’s like Javelin a wire guided system may seem quaint, but TOW and it’s guidance system was a serious improvement over previous generations of ATGM’s that required fiddly knobs to control the missile.

While wire-guided ATGM’s can suffer from getting their cables cut and loosing control of the warhead, a major advantage over laser-guided systems is that there is no signal to jam or intercept. A tank won’t benefit from a laser warning system, and there is no radio signal to jam or interfere with. A control wire is a very basic and robust piece of technology.

TOW was born out of weapon research programs started in the 1950s. Dissatisfaction with systems like the French SS.10 saw several programs launched to develop a domestic ATGM for the United States Military. Anecdotally, the designer of the SS.10 was a part of a secret cabal of French officers, the O.A.S., that attempted to assassinate Charles DeGaulle and feature prominently in the novel and film “The Day of the Jackal”.

TOW was nearly scrapped in 1969 in favor of adopting Shillelagh as the primary ATGM of the U.S. military. Ultimately presentations and studies conducted by the D.O.D. and several other army procurement departments persuaded congress to continue funding the developmentof TOW.

TOW’s first entered service in 1970, and had it's live fire debut in 1972, being launched from a Huey Helicopters at NVA armor. The Americans like to put TOW on a lot of different platforms. TOW’s can be mounted on Huey’s, M113’s, Humvee’s, Jeeps, Cobras, or deployed on a tripod for use by infantry. TOW is not an individual man portable system like Dragon, it’s not meant to be issued to every rifle squad and is a crew served weapon, but it is still a very common anti-tank system.

While the U.S. is the most prolific operator of TOW, several other NATO powers also use the system. Canada mounted several launchers on M113’s and called the platform the M150. Belgium attached several launchers to the militarized variant of the AW109 helicopter as a tank-hunting gunship. The Bundeswehr even put them on their Wiesel Tankettes.

By 1989 TOW has gone through several iterations. The first improvement was an extended range variant introduced in 1978. The variant you will usually see in late Cold War titles entered service in 1981 as the BGM-71C, or Improved TOW (ITOW). This version incorporated a probe that allowed the HEAT warhead to detonate further from the target, giving more time for the molten jet to properly form and penetrate through armor. A few vehicles like the Bradley are equipped with the BGM-71D, which has a larger warhead and a more powerful engine to compensate for the added weight. The BGM-71E is equipped with a tandem warhead, which is capable of defeating explosive reactive armor.

In terms of penetration the 71C is less capable than the 71D. Both warheads can still reliably knock out every APC, IFV, and most tanks on the battlefield from the front, side, or rear. Some very modern Soviet armor like the T-80 have advanced composites that can reduce the effectiveness of HEAT rounds. The increased warhead size of the 71D will still defeat most armor head on. Even if a warhead can’t directly penetrate the armor, it can knock off tracks and jam turret rings, leading to vehicles falling out and being disabled, or reducing the readiness and effectiveness of the targeted unit.

Almost all TOW’s in service by 1989 have about the same range, 3750 meters. This is the length the cables can run before there is a significant drop in reliability. In many of our wargames like Flashpoint Campaigns this gives both NATO and Warsaw Pact players a good estimate to play with when judging how far AT defenses can punch out. In a hex-based wargame with 500 meter hexes, this means you have about 7-8 tiles of space where TOW can threaten Tanks and IFV’s. The missiles are bulky and so most units will quickly run out of ammunition if heavily engaged, meaning you need to think about how to resupply your forward units. TOW is also frequently mounted on lighter, cheap vehicles like the M113. These vehicles have almost no armor and will be destroyed by almost any direct fire, and are vulnerable to artillery. As always you want to leverage complex terrain, concealment, dug in defenses, and range to make your defense survivable.

TOW isn’t designed to be used offensively by ground vehicles. The SACLOS guidance system means you want to fire from a halted, stable platform so the gunner can keep his optical site on the target. The exception to this are helicopter mounted TOW’s, although they will still be more accurate firing from a stationary position. TOW units are best used in support positions during the attack, providing long range fire against enemy armor that might attempt to counterattack or move in to reinforce the defenders. The United States Army has a platoon of TOW equipped M901's organically attached to every mechanized rifle company by 1989. This gives the rifle company tremendous anti-tank capability on the defensive.

If the Cold War had gone hot, the TOW would have been an essential component to the American anti-tank defense plan. As the primary heavy ATGM of the army it would have been used in any engagement from Company size and up to try and stem the tide of Soviet tanks and BMP's. The large warheads would have potentially made forward resupply difficult, and like all anti-tank assets a Soviet commander could have mitigated their impact with suppressive artillery fire, and by maximizing his use of cover on the approach to NATO positions.

All told, TOW is probably the best ATGM system on the battlefield in 1989, short of perhaps Hellfire. Launchers are prolific, the missiles can kill most targets, the range is good, and the interface is simple. As the primary anti-tank missile of a national military, you can do far worse. Now as for Dragon on the other hand, the ATGM organic to the American rifle platoon, you can be far more critical. However, that is a topic for another day.

Some good examples of Matrix titles where TOW plays a prominent role are Armored Brigade, Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm, Combat Mission Cold War, and the still in development but much anticipated Broken Arrow.

The majority of this article was sourced from this article on the U.S. army website. While no author is listed we would like to thank whoever they are for their contributions to general knowledge.

Until next time, happy hunting.