

People who play War Thunder want to know lol you can actually find cut outs that show the internals online. The TOW has been around for awhile.
But the wires were for X and Y navigation. Theres an IR beacon that flashes out the back of the missile. The camera sees the beacon and when you move the controls the missile will follow. Theres a Russian T90 tank that has a defense system that spoofs the beacon. Looks like headlights, called the Shtora-1 check it out.
Wire was made out of the thinnest, strongest metal I’ve ever seen. It would cut your boot if you snagged it and pulled, but it could be cut with scissors.
If you lost a wire the missile would go erratic and would lose control depending on which wire was lost. Really depened on what youre trying to shoot over if you broke a wire. Can’t shoot over buildings.
My favorite fact though, it flys above the tank! Search YouTube for a slow mo and you’ll see what i mean. Explodes from above.
Hurting people is wrong and should be avoided at all costs. Nothing cool about that.
But when a tank is also full of fuel and ammo, the boom is much bigger lol
I got lucky and shot around 15 to 20 for training. I lost track after 10. Some missilemen never get the chance to shoot one.
Interestingly, I had that kill zone question asked to me by another higher up (different job) and it took me a long time to come to a conclusion. The kill radius is actually not defined in the manuals. There are zones for the shooter to ensure you don’t get hit with back blast, but usually it’s assumed that the vehicle you hit will be destroyed.
Edit:
To explain further, the missile doesn’t hit the target. It flys above it and uses the munroe effect to cause an implosion (not an explosion) that makes the vehicle explode from the inside out. First munroe charge punches a hole into the vehicle, second charge gets sucked in and blow it up from inside. YouTube munroe effect to see how that shape charge works.