Toophan

Toophan

Different Toophan variants excluding Qa'em.
Type Anti-tank missile
Place of origin  Iran
Service history
Used by  Iran
 Syria
Hezbollah
Wars 2006 Lebanon War
Syrian Civil War
Specifications
Length

1.16 m (probe folded)

1.45 m (probe extended)
Diameter 0.152 m
Warhead weight 3.6 kg
Wingspan 0.46 m
Operational
range
 3,850 m
Speed 310 m/s
Guidance
system
 Wire-guidance. Laser guidance for later variants

Toophan (Persian: موشک طوفان‎‎, meaning "Typhoon" in Persian) is a series of Iranian anti-tank missiles. Toophan 1 is a reverse-engineered copy of the US military BGM-71 TOW missile. The Toophan-1's payload is a 3.6 kg high-explosive anti-tank warhead that can penetrate up to 550mm of steel armor. The range is 3,850m, the top speed 310 m/s. The manufacturer is the Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran, which has produced the missile since 2000.[1] Several other variants are also built with more penetration power.

Operational history

Iran was among the earliest countries to import the TOW missile, as far back as 1971. Extensive repair and assembly facilities were set up at the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) by the Texas-based Emerson Energy Systems, as well as Hughes Missile Systems, to repair TOW and FGM-77A Dragon missiles.

In May 1975, negotiations between Iran and Hughes Missile Systems on co-production of TOW and AGM-65 Maverick missiles stalled over disagreements in the pricing structure. Hughes set the royalty and initial investment costs for Iran at $20 million for the TOW and $25 million for the Maverick. The subsequent Iranian Revolution in 1979 ended all plans for such co-production.

Hezbollah reportedly used Toophan missiles against Israeli Merkava tanks during the 2006 Lebanon War.[2]

Variants

Toofan 1

Basic variant. Has a penetration of 550 mm rolled homogeneous armour (RHA), length of 116 cm and weight of 18.5 kg.[3] Its range is claimed to be 3.5 km.

Toofan 2

An upgraded variant using a much more powerful tandem warhead that can penetrate 760 mm of armor after disabling ERA by its small 40 mm frontal warhead. Missile weight has been increased to 19.1 kg and length to 145 cm.[4] As with Toofan 1 it has a range of 3.5 km.

Toofan 2B

A further upgrade with a heavier warhead and reported penetration of 900 mm RHA[5][6]

Toofan 5

Another variant with laser guidance and additional four small fins in front of the missile. The missile is described having two warheads. Possibly still with a penetration of 900 mm.[7][8][9]

Qa'em

Unveiled alongside Toofan 5, Qa'em is essentially a Toofan variant for use against Helicopters. Iranian state media claim that it is to have a laser guidance system resistant to enemy jamming.[10][11]

Operators

Map with Toophan operators in blue

See also

References

  1. ↑ Missile Chronology. Retrieved on August 14, 2011.
  2. ↑ Mikhail Barabanov, scientific editor of Arms Export (2006-08-23). "Hezbollah’s Examination". Kommersant. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  3. ↑ http://www.modlex.ir/cgi-bin/store.pl/page=product.html/pid=MXF05-000100
  4. ↑ http://www.modlex.ir/cgi-bin/store.pl/page=product.html/pid=MXF05-000110
  5. ↑ http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/wiki/index.php?title=Toofan_ATGM
  6. ↑ "Index - The First Military Reference Forum Site in Iran". military.ir.
  7. ↑ http://english.iribnews.ir/NewsBody.aspx?ID=6507
  8. ↑ http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/118011.html
  9. ↑ http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/wiki/index.php?title=Toofan_ATGM
  10. ↑ http://english.iribnews.ir/NewsBody.aspx?ID=6507
  11. ↑ http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/118011.html

External links

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