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A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected to both the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behind it. This guidance system is most commonly used in anti-tank missiles, where its ability to be used in areas of limited line-of-sight make it useful, while the range limit imposed by the length of the wire is not a serious concern.

The longest range wire-guided missiles in current use are limited to about 2.5 miles. The Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided Missile System (TOW), with a range of 3750 m and the British Swingfire missile, when vehicle launched, with a range of 4000 meters [1] but it would be unlikely to be used at extreme range.

Wire guidance was first employed by the Germans during World War II. Most German guided missile projects used radio control, but as the British proved to be able to jam anything they used, rushed projects were started in 1944 in order to develop alternatives. The first system to be modified in this fashion was the Henschel Hs 293B anti-shipping missile. Other examples included the X-4 anti-aircraft missile, and the X-7 anti-tank version of the X-4.

In the post-war era it was the X-7 that had the most effect on other military thinkers. By the early 1950s a number of experimental systems had been developed (see, e.g. Malkara missile), leading to their widespread deployment in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Large numbers of Israeli tanks were destroyed using wire guided AT-3 Sagger missiles during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Wire guidance has remained the main system for most smaller weapons, although newer systems such as laser beam riding have come into use in anti-aircraft and some anti-tank use roles (e.g. the US Hellfire missile and the Russian AT-14 Kornet).

Some Torpedoes can also be wire guided, such as the Swedish Torpedo MK2000, which is guided by a thin copper wire encased in a high-resistance plastic polymer.

This is a timeline of notable early wire-guided missiles.

• 1945 X-4 missile in production in Germany.
• 1955 SS.10 enters service with the French army.
• 1956 Vickers Vigilant
• 1957 ENTAC enters service with the French army.
• 1958 Malkara missile enters service with the British and Australian armies.
• 1960 AT-1 Snapper / 3M6 Shmel enters service in the Soviet Union.
• 1960 Swingfire
• 1963 AT-3 Sagger / 9M14 Malyutka enters service in the Soviet Union.
• 1968 Blowpipe surface to air missile enters service.
• 1970 BGM-71 TOW enters service with the US Army.
• 1972 MILAN is accepted for service with the French Army.
• 1976 AT-6 Spiral / 9K113 Shturm is accepted for service in the Soviet Union.

• Guided missile
• Missile guidance
• Semi automatic command line of sight
• Manual command line of sight