TOW Effect

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North Fields - Advance Guard

Playing as a T-72 in this mission you will quickly encounter a number of TOW missiles being launched at you, however on numerous occasions I have managed to survive several hits (as many as 4) before the tank calls it a day. Checking the shot review after the mission, 1 hit was direct to the upper glacis plate but did not penetrate the crew compartment, and several direct hits to the turret (mantlet and front face).

Does this sound correct? I was under the impression from various sources that a TOW hit on a T-72 would be 1 hit one kill pretty much everywhere.

[EL]

I cannot give you an authoritative answer on the TOW or T72 performance, but i can point out if useful and if i'm not mistaken:
A) the Tow fired by the infantry tripod in GHPC is the less performing single warhead type, not the tandem I-TOW
B) a CIA document on the T72 available at "https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000498195.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHn4XMwYiHAxWp3wIHHVckC4U4ChAWegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3eWSC1ln2XVU4rQdoQmmLT" page 6 states the soviets expected a measure of resilience specifically against TOWs... obviously the source was very prone to the "enemy's" disinformation/propaganda/etc but it can provide some context - alongside GHPC's T72 guide at https://gunnerheatpc.com/news/articles/gunnery-guide-t-72m1 where also the tank's "composite frontal armor" is held in high esteem.

My select memory of I-TOW videos on Youtube, by the way, conforms to your initial impression... but i also remember many cuts and edits of "successfully hit" targets leaving the area on their own power or even returning fire so forgive me, i cannot put more than my two cents in.

[Dark (-z-) Light]

Originally posted by EL:

I cannot give you an authoritative answer on the TOW or T72 performance, but i can point out if useful and if i'm not mistaken:
A) the Tow fired by the infantry tripod in GHPC is the less performing single warhead type, not the tandem I-TOW
B) a CIA document on the T72 available at "https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000498195.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHn4XMwYiHAxWp3wIHHVckC4U4ChAWegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3eWSC1ln2XVU4rQdoQmmLT" page 6 states the soviets expected a measure of resilience specifically against TOWs... obviously the source was very prone to the "enemy's" disinformation/propaganda/etc but it can provide some context - alongside GHPC's T72 guide at https://gunnerheatpc.com/news/articles/gunnery-guide-t-72m1 where also the tank's "composite frontal armor" is held in high esteem.

My select memory of I-TOW videos on Youtube, by the way, conforms to your initial impression... but i also remember many cuts and edits of "successfully hit" targets leaving the area on their own power or even returning fire so forgive me, i cannot put more than my two cents in.

Good to know, thanks for the reply I will definitely check those out. I was unsure of the variant that may have been used, so the fact its the lesser performing model would seem to help explain this! I did see that at least 2 hits were described as being stopped by the textolite layer, so again this may well be within the sphere of possibility.

[Dooby]

Originally posted by EL:

I cannot give you an authoritative answer on the TOW or T72 performance, but i can point out if useful and if i'm not mistaken:
A) the Tow fired by the infantry tripod in GHPC is the less performing single warhead type, not the tandem I-TOW
B) a CIA document on the T72 available at "https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000498195.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHn4XMwYiHAxWp3wIHHVckC4U4ChAWegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3eWSC1ln2XVU4rQdoQmmLT" page 6 states the soviets expected a measure of resilience specifically against TOWs... obviously the source was very prone to the "enemy's" disinformation/propaganda/etc but it can provide some context - alongside GHPC's T72 guide at https://gunnerheatpc.com/news/articles/gunnery-guide-t-72m1 where also the tank's "composite frontal armor" is held in high esteem.

My select memory of I-TOW videos on Youtube, by the way, conforms to your initial impression... but i also remember many cuts and edits of "successfully hit" targets leaving the area on their own power or even returning fire so forgive me, i cannot put more than my two cents in.

Small correction: the I-TOW uses an extended probe at the front to detonate the warhead earlier and increase standoff distance, but is not a tandem warhead. The first tandem warhead TOW is TOW-2A.

The basic model TOW is hardly better than a 105mm HEAT-FS round (a bit over 400mm penetration), while the I-TOW penetrates around 630mm with its improvements and is better suited to defeat soviet composite armor of the time.