M901

The M901/M9O1Al Improved TOW Vehicle consists of a standard Ml13A1 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) with an M27 cupola mounted on the roof. On the forward part of this is an arm containing the image transfer assembly and on top of the arm is the armored launcher assembly which contains two TOW launcher tubes, the TOW sight assembly and the acquisition sight. The turret has full powered 380 degree traverse at 35 degrees slope with the launcher head having an elevation of +34 degrees and a depression of -30 degrees. This enables the ITV to operate on gradients and side slopes with only the launcher head showing above the crest.

When travelling, the launcher head is retracted level onto the hull top so making the ITV difficult to distinguish from the standard Ml 1 3A1 series APC. Once the ITV has come to a halt, it takes only 20 seconds for the launcher to be elevated and the target to be engaged. Time from first round impact to second round triggering with a l2.5 degree target separation is 4.25 seconds. The gunner identifies and tracks the target through the image transfer assembly, which contains the coupling optics and allows the gunner to select the standard day sight or night tracking by remote control. In addition, the coupling optics has wide field of view so allowing the gunner to scan for targets. The guidance and sights of the ITV are identical to the normal TOW ground-based systems and, if required, the components can be removed from the vehicle and fitted to a standard TOW series ground mount which can be carried inside the hull. Once the two missiles have been launched, the launcher assembly is depressed at the rear and two new missiles are loaded, which takes only 40 seconds. The loader is provided with both side and overhead armor protection during the manual loading operation.