Toophan

Toophan (means Typhoon) is an Iranian anti-tank missile that is a reverse-engineered copy of the US military TOW missile. The Toophan's payload is a 3.6kg high-explosive anti-tank warhead that can penetrate up to 550mm of steel armor. The range is 3,850m, the top speed 310m/s. The manufacturer is the Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran, which created it since 2000. [ [http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Iran/Missile/1788_1816.html Missile Chronology.] Retrieved on December 10, 2007.]

Operational history

Iran was among the earliest country to import the TOW missile as far back as 1971. Extensive repair and assembly facilities were setup 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 missile.

In May 1975 negotiations between Iran and Hughes Missile Systems on co-production of the TOW and 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 1979 revolution ended all plans for such co-production.

Hezbollah has reportedly used Toophan missiles against Israeli Merkava tanks in the 2006 Lebanon War. [ [http://www.kommersant.com/p698954/Hezbollah%E2%80%99stic_Examination/ Kommersant.] Retrieved on December 10, 2007. ]

Variants

An improved version, called the Toophan 2, was also manufactured.

ee also

*Military of Iran
*Iranian military industry
*Equipment of the Iranian Army

References

External links

* [http://www.iranmilitaryforum.com/ Iran Military pictures and video]
* [http://www.janes.com/aerospace/military/news/jdw/jdw000526_2_n.shtml Jane's Defence Weekly, "Another ATGW for Iran"]