As reported by the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" with reference to "Ukrainian government circles", the government of Ukraine at its own expense acquired Dynamit Nobel Defense (DND, the military division of Dynamit Nobel AG group) from the German company another "almost 2,900" disposable RGW90 HH Matador hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers of new production, and they have already been delivered to Ukraine.
Captured by Russian troops, a 90-mm disposable RGW90 HH Matador hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher manufactured by the German company Dynamit Nobel Defense (DND) from among those purchased by the Government of Ukraine under a contract dated March 2022 (c) Telegram channel "RaZvedDoZor"
This is the second direct Ukrainian contract for the purchase of RGW90 HH Matador RPG from DND. Earlier in early March, the government of Ukraine similarly contracted 5100 RGW90 HH Matador grenade launchers from DND, and the first 2650 units of them were delivered on March 26, and the remaining 2450 - in May. Then it was reported that this contract for 25 million euros for these 5100 RPGs was paid at his own expense by a businessman. These RPGs were actively used by the armed forces of Ukraine in combat operations, and judging by the marking of captured samples of the first batch, they were actually manufactured back in 2021.
It should be noted that, judging by the well-known photographic materials, Ukraine also received from an unknown source (apparently from one of the countries in the form of military assistance - possibly Belgium) also a certain number of early-release Matador RPGs.
The RGW90 Matador 90 mm disposable hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher (acronym for MATADOR - Man-portable Anti Tank Anti DOoR) was jointly developed in the 1990s primarily for the Singapore Armed Forces under the direction of the Defense Technology Directorate (Defense Science & Technology Agency - DSTA) of the Singapore government together with the German company Dynamit Nobel Defense (DND) and the Israeli company Rafael. In fact, the main role in the development and development of this RPG is played by DND. The Matador design is a development of the 67-mm disposable RPG Armbrust, created by the German Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) group on an initiative basis in the 1970s. The German army did not accept Armbrust into service and MBB sold the rights to its production to Belgium and the Singapore state-owned company Chartered Industries of Singapore (now Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd, - ST Kinetics), as a result of which Armbrust was for a long time the main infantry anti-tank weapon of the Singapore army and was supplied to various countries of Southeast Asia (in the USA Armbrust RPGs of German and Belgian production were used by special operations forces).
The Matador RPG has been in serial production since 2004 simultaneously in Singapore (ST Kinetics), Germany (DND) and Israel (Rafael) and was purchased by the armed forces of all three countries, designated in Germany as RGW90 (Rückstoßfreie Granatwaffe 90 mm), and in Israel as "Mefaceach Egozim". Also, these RPGs produced by the German DND were purchased by Belgium, Slovenia, Switzerland, Great Britain (a variant of the Matador AS as an anti-bunker weapon) and Saudi Arabia, and Israeli-made RPGs were exported to Vietnam, and, apparently, to a number of other countries. There was information about the use of the Matador AS anti-bunker variant in combat operations by the US Marine Corps.
Matador is produced in variants of Matador MP / NN (German designation RGW90 HH, shot designation DM22, shot with a tandem cumulative warhead with a dual-mode fuse for hitting armored or unarmored targets), Matador WB (with a heavy shot with a special warhead forming a shock ring on the principle of a shock core for breaking walls), Matador AS / ASM (with an anti-bunker tandem cumulative warhead with a dual-mode fuse) and Matador LRMP (German designation Wirkmittel 90, DM11 shot with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead with a programmable fuse with the possibility of detonation in the air). Also for the Matador (actually for the Wirkmittel 90) there are options with training (DM18), lighting (DM16) and smoke (DM15) shots.
In addition, already in the 2010s, DND and Rafael developed a light version of the Matador in 60 mm caliber (RGW60), which in 2018 was adopted by the Israeli army (as "Mefaceah Kal Mishkal"), and was also purchased by Mexico.
Like Armbrust, the Matador RPG uses the principle of firing back "antimass" (a destructible plastic ball with small plastic balls inside), which makes it possible to fire from small rooms and limits the recoil. The weight of the equipped RPG in the variants: Matador MP / NN - 11.3 kg, Matador WB - 13 kg, Matador AS - 10 kg. The length is 1 meter. The initial speed of the grenade is 200-250 m/sec. The aiming range in the Matador MR / NN variants is from 20 to 600 m, Matador AS / ASM - from 20 to 500 m, Matador WB - from 20 to 120 m, Matador LRMP - up to 1200 m (with air blasting).
The Matador RPG is equipped with a repositionable reusable Dynahawk fire control optical sight with a built-in laser rangefinder and a ballistic calculator. The sight determines the range to the target, the angle of inclination and elevation, the speed of movement of the target and the temperature of ammunition and issues the appropriate correction to the arrow in the form of a calculated mark on the sight grid. It is possible to install a night sight.
