[en] Experimental and theoretical results are reported for single-photon single ionization of ${\mathrm{W}}^{2+}$ and W³⁺ tungsten ions. Experiments were performed at the photon–ion merged-beam setup of the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley. Absolute cross sections and detailed energy scans were measured over an energy range 20–90 eV at a bandwidth of 100 meV. Broad peak features with widths typically around 5 eV have been observed with almost no narrow resonances present in the investigated energy range. Theoretical results were obtained from a Dirac–Coulomb R-matrix approach. The calculations were carried out for the lowest-energy terms of the investigated tungsten ions with levels ${5{\mathrm{s}}^{2}5{\mathrm{p}}^{6}5{\mathrm{d}}^4{}^5\mathrm{D}}_J$ $J=0,1,2,3,4$ for ${\mathrm{W}}^{2+}$ and ${5{\mathrm{s}}^{2}5{\mathrm{p}}^{6}5{\mathrm{d}}^3{}^4\mathrm{F}}_{J^{\mathrm{\prime <!--\; ???\; -->}}}$ $J^{\mathrm{\prime <!--\; ???\; -->}}=3/2,5/2,7/2,9/2$ for ${\mathrm{W}}^{3+}$. Assuming a statistically weighted distribution of ions in the initial ground-term levels there is good agreement of theory and experiment for ${\mathrm{W}}^{3+}$ ions. However, for ${\mathrm{W}}^{2+}$ ions at higher energies there is a factor of approximately two difference between experimental and theoretical cross sections. (paper)