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The MATADOR (Man-Portable Anti-Tank Anti-Door) is a Israeli-German-Singaporean anti-tank weapon. It is a recoilless gun that fires rocket-assisted projectiles.

History[]

Developed in 1999, the MATADOR is said to be an update to the older Armbrust rocket launcher. In fact, the MATADOR is slowly replacing the Armbrust in countries currently using it. The weapon was developed jointly by a few countries; Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency and the Singaporean Defense Force, Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Germany's Dynamit Nobel Defense.

Design Details[]

Designed to be lighter than most of the weapons of its type, the MATADOR is effective against both armor and brick walls. It is claimed to be able to defeat the armor of most modern light tanks and armored personnel carriers. Similar to the Ambrust it is based on and the Wasp 58, the MATADOR has a countermass system which ejects small pieces of shredded plastic which are quickly slowed by air resistance out the rear of the weapon when firing to counter the recoil. Due to this, the weapon can be safely fired in close quarters only requiring a safe room volume of 530 cubic feet (15 cubic meters, or about the size of a 1-car garage with a six-foot ceiling).

The launcher is a single assembly with the grips and basic sights permanently mounted to it: it is factory fitted with a simple optical sight, though a length of Picatinny rail allows for the mounting of other sights.

Ammunition[]

The MATADOR's warhead is a 90mm warhead with with two modes; a HEAT mode and a HESH/HEP mode. In the former the extended standoff probe has the warhead detonate before impact and act as a hollow charge: in the latter, the warhead detonates on impact and functions like a HESH/HEP round. Selection between modes is done by grabbing the long probe at the end of the missile and either extending it for HEAT mode or leaving it retracted for HESH/HEP mode.

Variants[]

MATADOR-HH (HEAT-HESH)

Original production version with a manually extended standoff rod.

MATADOR-MP (Multi-Purpose)

Current production HH version with an improved "programmable" warhead and a built-in laser rangefinder and reflex optic.

MATADOR-WB (Wall Breaching)

Specialized variant with a conical warhead that projects from the muzzle. This is an unorthodox explosively formed ring warhead designed to cut a man-sized (30-39in) entry hole in a three-layer brick wall. Factory-fitted with a reflex optic.

MATADOR-AS (Anti-Structure)

Tandem-charge variant designed for penetrating multi-layer walls. The precursor charge only functions with the standoff probe extended, otherwise it is a direct-effect single-stage detonation. Factory-fitted with a simple optic sight.

References[]

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