Military

M1046 HMMWV TOW Missile Carrier w/ Supplemental Armor With Winch

The M1046 and M1046A1 HMMWVs were TOW Missile Carrier configurations of the HMMWV family. The vehicles were equipped with supplemental armor and a TOW launcher mounted on the roof of the vehicle. The vehicles were used to transport and launch TOW missiles to defeat armored vehicles. The M1046, and M1046A1 provided added ballistic protection for TOW system components, crew, and ammunition compared to the M1036.

The weapons platform could be traversed 360 degrees. Weapon station azimuth was limited to 300 degrees left and right of vehicle centerline when Vehicle Power Conditioner (VPC) cables were connected. With the launcher installed, elevation was limited to 20 degrees and depression was limited to 10 degrees.

Fully-loaded M1046 and M1046A1 TOW carriers could climb road grades as steep as 60 percent (31 degrees) and traverse a side slope of up to 40 percent (22 degrees). The vehicles could ford hard bottom water crossings up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) without a deepwater fording kit and 60 inches (152 centimeters) with the kit. M1046 types were also equipped with an 8,000 pound self-recovery winch, which could also be used to recover like systems. The winch feature affected vehicle length, weight, shipping dimensions and approach angle and could be installed on any M1045 to convert it to an M1046.

An improved variant with the A1 series modifications was also produced. The difference between the M1045 and M1045A1 TOW carriers and the M1046 and M1046A1 TOW carriers was that the M1045 types did not have self-recovery winches and the M1046 types did. The M1045A2 could be fitted with a winch, which negated the need for a separate M1046A2. The M1045A2 was intended to replace previous iterations of both the M1045 series and the M1046/A1 types.