TOW Technical

"TOW-armed pickup"

- Merchant of Menace store caption

The TOW Technical is an anti-armor vehicle used by the Russian Mafia in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

Overview
"Our newest model pickup truck mounts a TOW-missile launcher for anti-armor duties."

- Merchant of Menace store description

The TOW Technical is one of the three variants of the Technical series. This variant has a TOW missile anti-tank launcher for anti-armor duties. The vehicle has almost no downsides except for a small but fair missile ammunition count and relatively weak armour.

One minor downside is that if the player has a gunner, the gunner will automatically fire at every enemy ground vehicle, including scout vehicles. If the player wishes to save ammo, they should not drive with a gunner.

It is less common compared to the one armed with machine gun, but like the latter it can still be found in areas controlled by the Russian Mafia.

The TOW Technical can be bought from the online shop "Merchant of Menace" for $24,000 if completely friendly with the Russian Mafia or $33,600 if less friendly as possible after completing the contract '...It's Who You Know'.

Tactics
The missile launcher is powerful against armored vehicles, but the armor of the Technical itself is weak and can be damaged from small arms fire and anything more powerful.

Use of the TOW Technical should be limited to hit-and-run tactics or attacking targets at stand-off ranges to avoid counter-attack. The player may wish to take advantage of the vehicle's high speed by having a gunner in the back so they may move whilst firing missiles and avoiding returning fire.

Real life
The Mafia Technical appears to be based on a 1980s model Toyota Hilux, A compact pickup truck produced by Toyota since 1968.

The TOW launcher mounted on the rear tray of the vehicle is a BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile. TOW is an acronym for Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided.