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Posted: 7/30/2021 10:08:43 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: During WWII they started making them out of paper/cardboard type material. The Brits at least. The US had paper tanks, also. |
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Posted: 7/30/2021 10:17:23 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You have not lived until you have been stuck on a range detail, ran by a maniacal Spec5 from Guam, spending the day walking down Red Cloud Golf Range....winding up TOW wires. Makes burning shit seem pleasant. was that a army requirement/ or a maniacal guamanian requirement?? 
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Posted: 7/30/2021 10:20:24 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Tracked vehicles come along and clean the wires up.
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Posted: 7/30/2021 11:17:59 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The wires are electrically cut inside the tube and fall to the ground. As a general rule, we always hit the manual cut as a precaution. I was part of a live fire demonstration in Germany back in 87. I was forward in a screen when the scripted call for real arty came over the radio. My cue to move back to a covered position closer to the observation stands. As I tucked between two trees, I saw a TOW wire slide up and over the canopy. I was flying from the backseat and decided I better put it down, now, before the wire spooled up in the rotors. I remembered an incident happening years prior where a OH58 got stuck up in a fence and the fence wire spooled up and the Kiowa flipped over. Lots of dignitaries and visitors in the stands and I didn’t want to ruin the demonstration. Also didn’t want live arty dropping on my head. I accomplished a running landing then rolled the throttle back to idle in case we were tangled up. I jumped out and ran around the a/c but didn’t find any wire. I was very happy the Wire Strike Protection System did it’s job. As I was strapping in, I yelled to the front seater to “Roll it up!” and we were out of there. Total time on the ground, less than 2 minutes, no delays to the dog and pony show. Requested to leave the range and straight back to parking to shut down and get a detailed inspection. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I had one of my squadron's Cobra's come back from shooting a TOW at 29 Palms with the wire wrapped around the rotor mast. We were very fortunate with that one. TOW wire is fucking STRONG. We cut it off with bolt cutters. The wires are electrically cut inside the tube and fall to the ground. As a general rule, we always hit the manual cut as a precaution. I was part of a live fire demonstration in Germany back in 87. I was forward in a screen when the scripted call for real arty came over the radio. My cue to move back to a covered position closer to the observation stands. As I tucked between two trees, I saw a TOW wire slide up and over the canopy. I was flying from the backseat and decided I better put it down, now, before the wire spooled up in the rotors. I remembered an incident happening years prior where a OH58 got stuck up in a fence and the fence wire spooled up and the Kiowa flipped over. Lots of dignitaries and visitors in the stands and I didn’t want to ruin the demonstration. Also didn’t want live arty dropping on my head. I accomplished a running landing then rolled the throttle back to idle in case we were tangled up. I jumped out and ran around the a/c but didn’t find any wire. I was very happy the Wire Strike Protection System did it’s job. As I was strapping in, I yelled to the front seater to “Roll it up!” and we were out of there. Total time on the ground, less than 2 minutes, no delays to the dog and pony show. Requested to leave the range and straight back to parking to shut down and get a detailed inspection. There was a failure on the wire cutting squib. These were the last TOW missiles my squadron fired, December 2011. TOW was a pain in the ass on AH-1Ws. |
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Posted: 7/30/2021 11:55:36 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted: was that a army requirement/ or a maniacal guamanian requirement?? Definitely an Army requirement, but carried out with great zeal by SP5 Navvaro. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:32:33 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: the wires are attached till impact, then one of the crew members reels them in like a fishing pole. Wouldn’t that be a bit inefficient? |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:40:13 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How thick are TOW wires? Always wondered about that. I was about to ask the same thing, some of the posts indicate they are pretty thick, maybe like mechanic’s bailing wire, but not as soft? |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:46:04 PM EDT
[#8]
Huh.
"The wire from a TOW missile is secured at firing point 5 on range 19 at Fort McCoy, Wis., on March 14, 2016. " 
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:47:44 PM EDT
[#9]
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:49:07 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They usually drop them empty. They just land where they land. So far every drop tank ever dropped off a plane has hit the earth 100% track record. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:52:52 PM EDT
[#11]
I dont know about choppers, but after our fight at Jalibah Airfield on 2-27-91, TOW wires were draped and tangled all over the outside of our Bradleys.
Nice to know your buddies were shooting TOWs all will-nilly over the battlefield.
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:56:55 PM EDT
[#12]
I've fired a Javelin....
oh wait...  wrong missile. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:58:28 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Red Cloud Golf Range... Now thats a name I haven't heard in a long time. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 4:59:24 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn 
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:06:34 PM EDT
[#15]
Wire you asking?
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:08:33 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Drop tanks, they hit whatever. Plenty of stories from WWII and Vietnam both about drop tanks smashing houses. I like the various alternate uses of drop tanks over the years: make shift Kegs, ambulance tubes, luggage storage. On the ground they've been used for crazy make shift hot rods and motorcycles, boats, etc. I've also wondered about the wires, and figured they just drapped across whatever between the shooter and the target. Wonder if a cable ever snapped in flight, and what happens to the now-uncontrolled missile? I presume some kind of fail safe kicks in, maybe straight and level into the ground? Off to wiki....  They also got creative with cluster bomb containers. 
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:14:36 PM EDT
[#17]
What if it's fired from Marine 1?
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:19:34 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn Doesn't the W in TOW literally stand for wire? I guess maybe it stands for wireless. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:21:24 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Doesn't the W in TOW literally stand for wire? I guess maybe it stands for wireless. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn Doesn't the W in TOW literally stand for wire? I guess maybe it stands for wireless. Yep. should be TORF. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:25:00 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Tracked vehicles come along and clean the wires up. There you go… 
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:25:45 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They usually drop them empty. They just land where they land. So far every drop tank ever dropped off a plane has hit the earth 100% track record. There was that one time. And if you didn't actually see it git, did it really? |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:26:54 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sorta along the same lines...What happens when a fighter jet that has external fuel tanks jettisons those tanks? Are their parachutes in the tanks? Or do they just crash/explode into the ground? They freefall to the ground. They don't "explode". |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:29:46 PM EDT
[#23]
Those wires can cut the shit out of your legs when you're walking around those ranges wearing shorts.
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:30:45 PM EDT
[#24]
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:34:29 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn that's wouldn't be a tow then, it would be a torf. you do understand what the "w" means, right? |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:35:32 PM EDT
[#26]
TOW wires
 FORT MCCOY, WI, UNITED STATES 03.14.2017 Photo by Jamal Wilson Fort McCoy Multimedia Visual Information Branch The wire from a TOW missile is seen at firing point 5 on range 19 at Fort McCoy, Wis., on March 14, 2016. The BGM-71 TOW is a Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided anti-tank missile currently manufactured by Raytheon. Photo by Jamal Wilson |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:39:28 PM EDT
[#27]
This is what an empty drop tank looks like after it "fell" off of an Indian MiG-29K.
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:48:29 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I've fired a Javelin.... oh wait... wrong missile. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 5:56:52 PM EDT
[#29]
So question I always assume or question or what. But I've never heard a legit answer.
Where does the spoiled wire come from? Does it come from the rocket or from the launch tube. If it's the launch tube wouldn't that shit get hung up on bs? I just didn't know. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 6:05:30 PM EDT
[#30]
Tanks drive around and collect them in their tracks
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Posted: 8/1/2021 6:58:16 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: So question I always assume or question or what. But I've never heard a legit answer. Where does the spoiled wire come from? Does it come from the rocket or from the launch tube. If it's the launch tube wouldn't that shit get hung up on bs? I just didn't know. The wires have to be recovered from any ranges because they are a deadly hazard to anyone who happens to be a head higher than they are - and they tend to be strung over trees. Luckily Range Control has electric reels that wind that shit up, but it sucks when they break. |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 7:01:01 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Huh. "The wire from a TOW missile is secured at firing point 5 on range 19 at Fort McCoy, Wis., on March 14, 2016. " https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/145185/R90F1D-2036233.jpg |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 7:10:31 PM EDT
[#33]
Quoted: It's in the missile, which is contained in a throw-away tube that has the wires terminated in it. The wires have to be recovered from any ranges because they are a deadly hazard to anyone who happens to be a head higher than they are - and they tend to be strung over trees. Luckily Range Control has electric reels that wind that shit up, but it sucks when they break. I can tell you that this device was non existent in 1984.... Unless this device looks like a PFC with a stick....  |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 10:48:38 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: that's wouldn't be a tow then, it would be a torf. you do understand what the "w" means, right? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn that's wouldn't be a tow then, it would be a torf. you do understand what the "w" means, right? Institutional momentum is a hell of a thing. Raytheon calls it "Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wireless-guided" to still give it the TOW acronym.  Kharn |
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Posted: 8/1/2021 10:55:24 PM EDT
[#35]
For us ground based TOW gunners, wire recovery on a TOW range, especially with movers,can be a miserable part of range clearance. Range control is never happy
I would think that the air crews never have to deal with wire. It's just gone and snapped off and drapped over the countryside below |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 7:05:12 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I can tell you that this device was non existent in 1984.... Unless this device looks like a PFC with a stick.... We sometimes used the telephone wire reels, if we had some on our vehicles Otherwise it was a stick |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 7:24:39 AM EDT
[#37]
IIRC the wire is pretty thin but ridiculously strong. The stuff I had to unwrap from the drive sprocket and final drive of an M-60 was a reddish-copper color like the hair of a pretty Irish redhead girl. That stuff is the devil though. It cut through the oil seal of the final drive and deadlined the vehicle.
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Posted: 8/2/2021 8:22:35 AM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Lmao yep you win this thread. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Tracked vehicles come along and clean the wires up. Lmao yep you win this thread. Tracks are wire magnets. |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 8:41:02 AM EDT
[#39]
They went, "Sproooiiinnnggg".
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Posted: 8/2/2021 8:49:08 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How thick are TOW wires? Always wondered about that. So much so that they are issued a girth certificate. Ladies love them. The wires on the Japanese Apache fired TOWs are not nearly as girthy or long. That's why Japan can't field an offensive military. |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 9:04:38 AM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: IIRC the wire is pretty thin but ridiculously strong. The stuff I had to unwrap from the drive sprocket and final drive of an M-60 was a reddish-copper color like the hair of a pretty Irish redhead girl. That stuff is the devil though. It cut through the oil seal of the final drive and deadlined the vehicle. holy shit that's bad  |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 9:18:08 AM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sorta along the same lines...What happens when a fighter jet that has external fuel tanks jettisons those tanks? Are their parachutes in the tanks? Or do they just crash/explode into the ground? Saw a YouTube video where the locals make them into canoes. |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 9:25:24 AM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn If it's RF guided is it still a TOW or is it a TORF or something? |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:16:29 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If it's RF guided is it still a TOW or is it a TORF or something? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Wire guided TOW are so 1970s. RF guided TOW are so hot right now. Kharn If it's RF guided is it still a TOW or is it a TORF or something? Tube Launched, Optically Tracked, Wireless. |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:32:25 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I've heard that if you overlube them, they do. But i also hear the Italians like to use maranara as a cable lube, and have no issues. So... deadly to the enemy AND a tasty snack. Nice. |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:35:57 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yes, but to clarify for others.. During peacetime or not in a hostile area they are rarely dropped. They are reused and maintained regularly. They would only be dropped in an emergency. During an actual confilct or mission etc, they could/would be dropped after emptying. I remember seeing an article of picture a while back about the Vietnamese using them to make canoes/boats |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:45:08 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: During WWII they started making them out of paper/cardboard type material. The Brits at least. And the fronts fell off. 
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:49:31 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They freefall to the ground. They don't "explode". Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Sorta along the same lines...What happens when a fighter jet that has external fuel tanks jettisons those tanks? Are their parachutes in the tanks? Or do they just crash/explode into the ground? They freefall to the ground. They don't "explode". They should release them while inverted.....no worries about them hitting anything if they go up 
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:57:16 PM EDT
[#49]
They get hung up in the rotor shaft
It's called flying with wire |
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Posted: 8/2/2021 3:59:35 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sorta along the same lines...What happens when a fighter jet that has external fuel tanks jettisons those tanks? Are their parachutes in the tanks? Or do they just crash/explode into the ground? There's big fluffy pillows that pop out of the bottom of the external tanks to cushion the landing. They wouldn't want to hurt anyone that they just bombed. 
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