# Wire guided missile question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528 "2011-07-01T17:03:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/21 "2011-07-02T23:23:48Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Not to hijack too much, but does anyone know at a very high level how a wire guided system works? Wikipedia is sparse on details. > > I’m imagining that the guidance system at the firing location would have to track both the position of the projectile as well as the target and make adjustment in real time. If that’s the case, how does it keep track of these two without GPS or some similarly accurate positioning system? Or is it done completely differently? From what I’ve read, the early guidance system was called MCLOS for Manual to Command to Line of Sight. The advanced system was called SACLOS (Semi-Automatic Command Line Of Sight) Not much help, I know, but it might provide good search words for more technically advanced information. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/22 "2011-07-02T23:31:42Z")
The missile is coated with hundreds of little explosive charges. The fins keep it flying straight and the charges kick it laterally in the direction that it needs to go, it doesn’t swoop around like a plane. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/23 "2011-07-02T23:57:49Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > The operator has to keep the sight pointed at the target while the missile flies. The missile has some sort of light or flare in the back of it. The sight detects that, and sends commands to bring that light into the crosshairs. The missile just flies in a straight line wherever the sight is pointing. Very cool and a great explanation! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/24 "2011-07-04T00:10:11Z")
simply a wound up spool of wire that unravels from the center, not the outer part, producing neither friction nor tension. same principle is used for some game-tracking strings in hunting bows, and even some wire-guided torpedoes in submarines. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/25 "2011-07-04T00:41:09Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > The missile is coated with hundreds of little explosive charges. The fins keep it flying straight and the charges kick it laterally in the direction that it needs to go, it doesn’t swoop around like a plane. Whoa. There has to be some cool animation or video out there. Or did the missile just whoosh past me? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/26 "2011-07-04T02:42:42Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Whoa. There has to be some cool animation or video out there. Or did the missile just whoosh past me? Search for the Dragon missile. The Dragon missile has three panels of propellant charges (small rocket motors) located around the circumferance. These point out to the sides and toward the rear. The guidance system triggers pairs of rocket motors to fire at different portions of the rocket rotation. The action of the motors adjust the flight of the missile as to the target and provide forward propulsion. This things hops around like a hare being pursued by a dog. The Dragon is obsolete for US use - replaced by the Javelin which is fire and forget (not wire guided). The TOW missile has a flight motor and steerable fins/wings. The missile flies to the crosshairs in the launcher. Relatively straight flight once up to speed. Reels out a couple of wires to 3800+ meters. Wire breaks become more common in extreme cold or old age. Price is under $40k - not a million. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/27 "2011-07-04T18:09:44Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Although they left it out of the film version of _The Hunt for Red October_, both for simplicity and because of a key scene near the end that would have been confusing (when the US helo drops the clearly wire-free torpedo but it is still remotely detonated by Adm. Greer), modern torpedoes are wire-guided too. However, while the large submarine-launched torpedoes are wire-guided, no air-dropped torpedo is–which rather ruined the scene in question for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/28 "2011-07-04T18:26:24Z")
Related question. Look at this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMxZ34Ptco&feature=related) of a TOW missile against a T72 tank. At about 0:53 there is a view of the missile taking out the tank, but it never seems to hit the tank? Say What? ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/29 "2011-07-04T18:55:50Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Related question. Look at this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMxZ34Ptco&feature=related) of a TOW missile against a T72 tank. At about 0:53 there is a view of the missile taking out the tank, but it never seems to hit the tank? > Say What? That’s the Tow 2B. It’s a top attack weapon that’s designed to flow above the line of sight, and when it’s above the target, a downward facing warhead detonates which will penetrate the thinner top armor. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/30 "2011-07-04T18:58:05Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Related question. Look at this [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMxZ34Ptco&feature=related) of a TOW missile against a T72 tank. At about 0:53 there is a view of the missile taking out the tank, but it never seems to hit the tank? > Say What? Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The missile doesn’t hit the tank. However, the explosively-formed projectile (EFP, also know as a self-forging projectile) it’s carrying, does. With dramatic results, judging by the video. The top of a tank is much less armored than the front of the turret, and so a warhead attacking the top can be much smaller, and still penetrate the tank. That’s what this particular [TOW variant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW) (looks like the BGM-71F from wiki.) seems to do. There’s a sensor on the missile that lets it know when the missile is in position to form a EFP, and have the EFP impact the roof of the turret. It then triggers the EFP forming sequence. A nice thing about EFP’s relative to other shaped charges is that they have much greater stand-off ranges, and are harder to disrupt/divert than the jet from, e.g. a HEAT warhead. Great video, thanks for the link. Or: what **Patch** said. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/31 "2011-07-05T00:24:00Z")
There are two warheads in the TOW2B. Aim for one is slightly offset forward and the other is pretty much straight down to increase chances of target destruction… ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/32 "2011-07-05T01:08:51Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Whoa. There has to be some cool animation or video out there. Or did the missile just whoosh past me? [The first few seconds of this video shows how the missile wobbles in flight.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reyB2oFfKo&NR=1) ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/33 "2011-07-06T15:00:49Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Can you please post a picture of the type of dispenser you mean? I think your idea is interesting. The concept was commercialized by the [REELEX](http://www.reelex.com/REELEX/REELEX_History.html) corporation. Basically, the machine winds a relatively loose core, which almost resembles a bunch of stacked figure eight loops, folded in half. The end result is a tangle free, low pulling resistance package for wires and cables. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528/34 "2011-07-07T08:29:23Z")
> [@robby](#): > > However, while the large submarine-launched torpedoes are wire-guided, no air-dropped torpedo is–which rather ruined the scene in question for me. Yeah, I was going to mention that but didn’t want to get too confusing. You can say it was a specially made decoy fish that was detonated via radio, except it was rather critical that it work right to convince all those Russian sailor witnesses that the October had been destroyed (the Alfa exploding was just a fortunate coincidence) and radio waves don’t travel well even under shallow water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wire-guided-missile-question/587528.md?page=1)