Toophan

Toophan
Different Toophan variants excluding Qa'em.
Type	Anti-tank missile
Place of origin	Iran
Service history
Used by	Iran Syria Iraq Hezbollah
Wars	2006 Lebanon War Syrian Civil War Iraqi Civil War (2014-present), Yemeni Civil War (2015-present) Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (2015-present) Conflict in Najran, Jizan and Asir
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: توفان‎‎, 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. 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.

Iran has continued to develop the Toophan and in December 2016 demonstrated the missile against naval targets.

Variants

Variant	Range	Penetration	Length	Weight	Notes
Toofan 1	3.5 km	550 mm	116 cm	18.5 kg
Toofan 2	3.5 km	760 mm	145 cm	19.1 kg	tandem warhead; disables ERA by its small 40 mm frontal warhead
Toofan 2B	3.5 km	900 mm	145 cm	19.1 kg	upgraded Toofan 2 with heavier warhead
Toofan 5	3.5 km	900 mm	145 cm	19.1 kg	variant with laser guidance and additional four small fins in front of the missile
Qa'em					anti-helicopter variant unveiled alongside Toophan 5; laser guidance system resistant to enemy jamming

Operators

Map with Toophan operators in blue

• Iran
• Syria
• Iraq
• Yemen(Houthis)
• Hezbollah

See also

• Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Iranian military industry
• Equipment of the Iranian Army

External links

• Jane's Defence Weekly, Another ATGW for Iran
• Army Reconn article on Iranian copies of DRAGON and TOW