Tow Bombs were small but powerful explosive machines resembling small insect bodies and sporting a tentacled mouth at one end. They functioned as homing missiles and were launched by other machines, such as Sentinels or the Armada. They had the capability to track their targets, following it and exploding upon coming in contact with it, causing significant and often crippling damage.
A single tow bomb was powerful enough to destroy a Zion hovercraft. The most deadly aspect of the tow bombs was that they were a ranged weapon: Sentinels could wait just outside the range of a hovercraft's Electromagnetic Pulse charge, launching Tow Bombs at it by spinning very fast while grasping one or more Tow Bombs, releasing them when it reached a speed fast enough to launch.
Tow Bombs were known to have destroyed several hovercrafts, including the Vigilant and the Nebuchadnezzar. They were shot out after being deployed from pods by the Armada, forming much of the defense system of 01, the Machine city. Thousands of such bombs were launched at Neo and Trinity in the Logos when they approached the city, though Neo was able to cause them to explode prematurely due to his connection to the Source.