Thursday, May 25, 1972
S. Viets Get New Antitank Missile
SAIGON (UPI) --South Vietnamese troops defending Hue have been outfitted with sophisticated U.S. wire-guided missiles to combat Communist tanks, military sources said Tuesday.The "TOW" missiles were handed to government marines and infantrymen on the former imperial capital's outer defenses after a high-level U.S. study of South Vietnamese requirements to turn back the 55-day-old North Vietnamese offensive, the sources said.The missiles are identical to those already issued to U.S. troops in the Central Highlands and Phu Bai -near Hue -where they are mounted in helicopters and on jeeps.The South Vietnamese, trained by a special six-man U.S. Army team on temporary duty in Vietnam, have mounted the missiles on jeeps, armored cars and at static defense positions, the sources said.The TOW -for tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided -has a range of two miles and costs $3,400 per round, the sources said. With a light-gathering starlite telescope, it can be used both day and night.In theory, they are simple to fire and almost foolproof. The operator sights a tank through the launcher and fires. The missile, through a tiny computer, a light beam and thin wires, locks onto and hits whatever the operator sees through the sight.U.S. helicopter crewmen have reported knocking out three tanks in the highlands since the missile-equipped choppers were rushed to South Vietnam from Germany three weeks ago."S. Viets Get New Antitank Missile", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Thursday, May 25, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.