Army and marine units fired hundreds of the new Javelin missiles in Iraq. But some Marine users eventually fell back on the older TOW missile because several of the Javelins they fired veered off course and missed their targets. This made the Javelin operators nervous, because the javelin is a "fire and forget" missile (get the target in the cross hairs of the Javelin sight, fire it, and move on.) The three decade old TOW missile is guided via a wire that plays out behind it, and is controlled by the operator until the missile hits its target. Originally designed for use against tanks, TOW and Javelin are both more frequently used against enemy troops in bunkers or buildings. Javelin had reliability problems when it underwent its first tests with the troops in 1996. Such problems are not unexpected with new weapons, especially those that cost $69,000 each (thus limiting the number fired in tests.) TOW revealed similar problems when it was first used on a wide scale during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The problems were fixed and TOW is considered a very reliable weapon. Javelin's problems, which do not appear to be widespread, apparently involve the imaging system not being able to maintain it's lock on the target, causing the missile to fall short or overshoot. Most Javelin users are quite happy with the weapons reliability, accuracy and ease-of-use.
