Lanzagranadas Instalaza C90C
The C90 began to be supplied to the Spanish army in the nineties. They used a classic concept that comes from World War II of the use of rockets against tanks, explains Navarro. At heart, a C90 looks a lot like the classic mortars that were dropped on a tube and shot out.
The Spanish Army awarded a €22.4 million contract to the Spanish company Instalaza in May 2021 for the purchase of C90 shoulder-fired, one-man operated rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The contract includes the purchase of six different models and training systems. Instalaza will provide three versions of its C90-CR and three versions of its C90-CS.
The Instalaza C90, also called the M3, is a 90mm disposable, shoulder-fired and one-man operated system which can be fitted with a VN38-C night vision device with a 4x magnification for full night combat capability. The original C-90 was designed and developed by the Spanish company Instalaza S.A. in the late 1980s, and adopted for use by the Spanish Army in 1990. The weapon has been manufactured and offered on the international market since the early 1990s.
The C-90 has a number of different grenade options. Various mission-specific variants of the C90-CR are available, including anti-tank, anti-bunker, combined anti-armor/fragmentation (HEDP), smoke/incendiary, and training. The Instalaza grenade launcher has four standard versions, depending on the type of ammunition loaded. They can be ammunition against tanks (the C90-CR model); against bunkers (C90-BK), in which the charge is specialized in bursting the cement; or the mixed type (C90-CR-BK) anti-tank and high fragmentation, to "destroy and do a lot of damage around a point". In the latter case the range is up to 700 meters. There is also a version specialized in creating a column of smoke and fire to create a distraction and hinder enemy operations (C90-AM).
The C90-CR (M3) series fire 88.9 mm caliber rockets to stated ranges of 300m for point targets, and 800m for area targets. As a single-use weapon system, once the rocket has been fired, the non-reloadable launch tube is discarded. According to the company, the chance of a successful hit on a standard vehicle target at a range of 50 meters is nearly 100%, and the C90-CR (M3) does not suffer after being exposed to temperatures as high as 50 degrees for a period of 24 hours.
The complete set weighs little, five kilos , which favors the mobility of the guerrilla war for which it is intended. It is not useful for holding a confrontation or for battles in the open field. At heart, it's essentially a rocket wrapped in a metal tube. It is the projectile that has the fuel and motor for propulsion to the target. The container becomes useless after the shot. That is why so many photos of soldiers are seen with the remains of the Instalaza that, in reality, they are no longer useful for anything.
The ammunition is 90 millimeters in caliber (that is, 9 centimeters in diameter). It is capable of penetrating armor three or four centimeters thick. Technically it's a rocket, as opposed to the missiles that make up the ammunition for the US Javelin weapon, which looks similar and is also being used extensively in Ukraine. The C90's ammunition is shaped like a rocket, resembling a cucumber. It is aimed with a collapsible 2X magnification optical sight , included in the disposable launcher tube.
Missiles, on the other hand, can pursue the target. The guidance system can be optical (towards a laser pointer or infrared if it is at night) or by the heat emitted by the target (thermal guidance system). That is why Javelins can reach targets up to five kilometers away , and that is why they can be used to disable both tanks (such as the C90) and aircraft (helicopters or fighter planes). But each Javelin missile costs tens of thousands of euros (up to a quarter of a million depending on the units), while the Instalaza are around 5,000 euros, depending on the type.
Because they are so affordable, they are purchased by countries with less defense spending. They are present in the civil war in Yemen, for example, and have been bought by the armies of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile or El Salvador, but also by others such as Italy. Estonia, a neighboring country with Russia, signed a contract on March 2, after the war had started, for almost 6,000 units of the C90-CR-RB.
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