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The Toophan ( "typhoon", rarely Toofan) is an Iranian SACLOS anti-tank guided missile reverse-engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile. The Toophan 1, an unlicensed copy of the BGM-71A TOW missile, began mass production in 1988 and the Toophan 2, a BGM-71C ITOW variant, was publicly shown in 2000.
The Toophan comes in at least 11 variants, many of which are poorly documented, including variants with beam-riding, thermobaric warheads, and with increased penetration. The Toophan is manufactured jointly by the Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran and Iran Electronics Industries.
It is normally deployed from ground-based tripods, but can also be mounted on fighting vehicles and helicopters. Like the BGM-71 TOW missile, the Toophan is a large, rugged, powerful, and reliable anti-tank guided missile deployed by small teams against tanks, armored vehicles, buildings, and other targets. The Toophan forms the backbone of the Iranian Armed Forces' ATGM inventory and is procured in large quantities in a variety of variants.
The Toophan has been exported to the governments of Iraq and Syria and to a large number of non-state actors in the Middle East, and has been used in the Iran–Iraq War, the 2006 Lebanon War and the Iraqi, Syrian, and Yemeni Civil Wars.
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.Ann Tibbitts Schulz, Buying Security: Iran Under the Monarchy (San Francisco: Westview Press, 1989), pp. 57–58.
The Iran–Iraq war lead to Iran having an acute need for anti-tank guided missiles to counter Iraq's massive armored formations, leading Iran to import thousands more TOW missiles, as well as Soviet AT-3 Sagger ATGMs. Attempts at local production of both systems began in the first half of the war, with the TOW missile being prioritized due to its better performance. The earliest prototype version was ready in mid-1985, but performance was disappointing compared to Iran's US-made TOW missiles, which received widespread praise in Iran at the time. Following about a year and a half more of R&D work, the Toophan was tested against Iraqi tanks and showed better performance. The missile was shown on an Iranian TV show on March 21, 1987, and production of what would be named the Toophan 1 began by early 1988. R&D and production work continued through the 1990s. The missile was not publicly revealed until 2000, when the Toophan 1 and Toophan 2 were publicly unveiled at the same time. The Toophan has since become Iran's primary anti-tank guided missile. In addition to Toophan missiles, Iran also produces reverse engineered tripod launchers, guidance sets, and storage boxes, all of which bear the Toophan name. Toophan missiles can be fired from TOW launchers, and their components are generally interchangeable.Christopher F. Foss, "Iran offers new anti-tank missiles for export," Jane's Missiles & Rockets, 1 July 2000 A number of sources say that the Toophan's quality is inferior to that of original American-made TOW missiles, but is still robustly capable.
In 2014 Iran showed a Toophan/TOW simulator they built for helicopter-launched missiles. In a December 2016 military exercise Iran used the missile against naval targets. In 2018 Iran showed off thermal-sights which can be used with the Toophan. The Toophan can be mounted on Boragh APCs, ATVs, or Safir jeeps. Toophan missiles can be repaired by Iran's Shiraz Electronics Industries.
The Toophan was later developed into the Sadid-1, an ambitious project to build a competitor to the Israeli Spike-ER fire-and-forget missile for attack helicopters and drones. The Sadid-1 had limited success, but was used to develop the successful Sadid-345 glide bomb, which in turn spun off a smaller counterpart, the Qaem air-to-ground munition.
In 2018, it's reported that the Toophan can have the “RU244TK” and “RU150TK” thermal imaging cameras attached.
Toophan missiles can often be identified by their turquoise bands installed by Iran's Defense Industries Organization or by a faint black band on the rear end of the launcher. Toophan missiles, on their packaging, are instead labeled as TOW missiles; for example a Toophan 2M is labeled as a "TOW 2M".
Modern TOW tripods have black rings, while Toophan tripods have yellow rings. Internally, Toophan missiles have different screw placement and cylindrical launch motor nozzles.
| Toophan 1 | 3.5 km | 550 mm | 116 cm | 18.5 kg | [1] | BGM-71A TOW clone. The Toophan-1's payload is a 3.6 kg HEAT warhead. The top speed 310 m/s. Exported to Hezbollah of Lebanon in the 2000s and Iraqi forces in the Iraqi Civil War. Toophan-1 marketing material claims a hit probability of 96%. Entered production 1987/1988. |
| Toophan 2 | 3.5 km | 760 mm | 145 cm | 19.1 kg | [2] | Derivative of BGM-71C TOW missile with a tandem HEAT warhead; possibly incorporates elements of BGM-71E TOW 2A missile. Revealed in 2000. |
| Toophan 2B | 3.5 km | 900 mm | 145 cm | 19.1 kg | Upgraded Toophan 2 with heavier warhead. Exported to Iraq and used in the Battle of Mosul. | |
| Toophan 2M | 3.75 km | 650 mm | 147 cm | 21 kg | Tandem warhead. Exported to Iraq. | |
| Toophan 3 | 3.5 km | 80 mm | 116 cm | 19.1 kg | [3] | Derivative of American BGM-71F TOW 2B top-attack missile albeit with worse performance, introduced c. 2016. Possibly exported to Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Kata'ib Hezbollah.Michael Knights, 30-Sep-2011. Shia strength – Iraqi militants adapt to the US drawdown. Jane's Intelligence Review, Terrorism and Insurgency. IHS Global Limited. |
| Toophan 3M | Toophan 3 derivative with unknown changes. Top attack ATGM. Revealed in 2019. | |||||
| Toophan 4 | 3.75 km | N/A | 117.2 cm | 20 kg | [4] (in Arabic) | Variant with thermobaric fuel-air warhead. Exported to PMU forces in Iraq and used in the battle of Mosul. Also exported to Houthis in Yemen. First shown to the public in 2017 but in use since at least 2015. Like all Iranian thermobaric weapons, has a distinctive red band. |
| Toophan 5 | 3.5 km | 900 mm | 145 cm | 19.1 kg | [5] (in Arabic) | Considered the premier Toophan variant, the Toophan-5 has laser guidance, tandem-warhead and canards. Was apparently in development in 2002Jane's Armor and Artillery (2002) and entered production in 2010. Exported to Iraq and used by Iraqi forces in Ninawa province and elsewhere. As a laser-riding missile, it requires a different launcher. Not a copy of any TOW variant.Galen Wright, Iranian Military Capability 2011 – Ground Forces – March 15th 2011 |
| Qaem | Anti-helicopter variant with laser guidance and secondary flight motor. Mass production began in 2010. | |||||
| Qaem-M (or Ghaem-M) | 6 km | N/A | 116 cm | 19.5 kg | [6] | Qaem variant with proximity fuze. |
| Toophan 6 | 3.5 km | N/A | 117.2 cm | 21 kg | [7] | Threat Tactics Report: Iran (Jun 2016) Version 1.0 Anti-bunker thermobaric warhead. First shown to the public in 2017. Perhaps laser-riding. Unclear differences compared to Toophan-4. |
| Toophan 7 | 3.75 km | 117.2 cm | 21 kg | [8] (in Arabic) | Unclear warhead, perhaps fragmentation thermobaric. |
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