Tel Aviv: Finland will buy a derivative of the Rafael Matador anti-tank missile. Dynamite Nobel Defence, a German subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has secured a €84.5 million contract to supply Finland with RGW110 anti-tank missiles.
A bigger version of the RGW90, referred to as the Matador in the IDF, is the RGW110, where Rafael’s “David’s Sling” system was purchased by the Finns for €317 million in November 2023. David’s Sling is an air defence system that uses a hit-to-kill technique, in which the interceptor attacks the target directly, to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and missiles as well as cruise missiles.
Finland and Israel had quietly signed a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation, which will be in force until 2034, according to information published in the Helsinki media about two months ago.
The Matador is a 90 mm (3.5 in) lightweight, disposable recoilless weapon system developed jointly by the Singapore Armed Forces and Germany’s Dynamite Nobel Defence. The missile’s caliber is 90 mm standard with other variants like the 60 mm or 110 mm RGW110 family. The system weighs 10.35 kg and has an effective range of up to 500 metres.
The warhead can be selected – one for High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) mode for armoured targets and a High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) mode to breach concrete or brick walls. The system features a counter-mass system that minimises backblast, making it safe to fire from inside small, confined rooms. The IDF has used the system in recent combat in Gaza and Lebanon.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
