Autor fotografie: Flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0|Popisek: IDF soldier with a MATADOR
Modern ATGMs are the weapons that apparently decided the initial failure of the Russians to invade Ukraine. The destruction of the aggressor's armored columns has become literally legendary. Among them the RGW 90 by DND, a German company which will exhibit its products at Eurosatory 2024.
The modern tank has a very thick alloy armor made of steel, tungsten, ceramic reinforcements and other components. In addition, reactive armor is laid on top of the basic protection, whose purpose is to bring the anti-tank missile to premature explosion and divert the energy of the missile in a harmless direction. Reactive armour is a set of steel blocks filled with explosive. The kinetic portion of the missile (i.e., its tip) is thus "drilled" through the steel and brings the reactive armor charge to the explosion. This explosion then causes the arriving missile to explode. This system of disarming the projectile does not always work, but today reactive armor is commonplace on modern MBTs.
RGW 90 as a cumulative tandem missile
ATGMs like the RGW 90 MATADOR are therefore conceived as cumulative tandem missiles precisely because of the increased use of reactive armour. Simply dual. The first charge is designed to cause the reactive armour to explode, and then the concentrated energy of the missile is fired through the main armour into the MBT where it explodes. The effectiveness is evidenced by the hundreds of torn off turrets of Russian tanks after the explosion of stored munitions. It should be noted, however, that a significant number of Russian MBTs do not have reactive armour. Of course, these are mainly old models. However, the Russian Kontakt-5 reactive protection can be considered very modern. At the beginning of the war, the mass deployment of American Javelins or Ukrainian Stugna-P ATGMs came as a great surprise to the Russians.
The German MATADOR RGW 90 is a cumulative (the energy of the explosion goes through a narrow beam into the armor and burns through) tandem (double burst) missile produced by the German DND. It was developed in collaboration with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, the Defence Science and Technology Agency and the Singapore Armed Forces. It replaced the Armbrust light anti-tank missile in the Bundeswehr. It is one of the lightest ATGMs ever. The weight of the kit is 8.9 kilograms, while the Javelin, for example, weighs 11.8 kilograms. For a foot soldier, every kilogram counts. The warhead is also effective against walls, and has a very little recoil, so it is safe even in confined spaces.
Effectiveness of RGW 90 proven in combat
The projectile should be immune to weather conditions due to the additional propulsion. According to Army Technology, the weapon is currently in use by Slovenia, Germany, Israel and of course Singapore. Last but not least, Ukraine, which was to receive more than 5,000 of them, at least according to Global Defence Corp. The recoilless system is fired from the shoulder of a single soldier and, with the transport configuration, it is only one metre long. With the HEAT multi-purpose high-explosive warhead, the RGW 90 should be able to penetrate 500 mm thick RHA armour. The fire control system weighs one kilogram and consists of an optical targeting system, night vision, laser rangefinder and ballistic computer. The Javelin has laser and infrared guidance.
MATADOR is a disposable (single-use) system, which explains its light weight and relatively simple target acquisition systems. Despite its modest size, the ATGM should be able to destroy Main Battle Tanks. The RGW 90 family includes four sub-systems that are either anti-wall or anti-armoured vehicle, or to destroy concealed targets. The effective range is up to 1,200 metres depending on the warhead used. The counterweight consists of shredded plastic that flies forward when fired and is slowed by air resistance. This helps to create very little recoil indeed.
The RGW 90 was first deployed in combat by the IDF in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead. The MATADOR was used to break through walls. According to the Ukrainian website Militarnyi, its deployment in Ukraine is characterized as easily breaking through lightly armored vehicles, but success against MBTs is not guaranteed. Especially against tanks with reactive armour. It is very widely used in the current conflict between Israel, Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. Militant movements have in fact managed to seize several Israeli RGW 90s.