Ukrainians Captured Weapons Developed In Belarus

We are talking about the RPG-32 grenade launcher.

Ukrainians captured weapons, partly developed in Belarus. The news about this appeared a few days ago, but then it was reported that the weapons were mainly Russian. However, in fact, the development is joint.

We are talking about the RPG-32 grenade launcher – so modern that it is not even in Russian service. The Ukrainian military website Militarny has shown a video where the Ukrainian military develops a new type of weapon, The Village Belarus writes.

The Russian company Basalt developed this grenade launcher for the Jordanian army and with money from the Jordanian Royal Government. The contract included not only the development of the weapon itself but also the construction of a plant in Jordan for its production.

The RPG-32, which received the name "Hashim" in Jordan (later it was renamed "Nashshab"), can shoot grenades of various calibers and types. The grenade launcher can both penetrate the armor of tanks and hit the accumulation of manpower thanks to thermobaric ammunition. The firing range is up to 700 meters.

Is there something Belarusian in it? There is the 1P81 daytime optical sight (GS-1DN according to the Jordanian register) was developed at our BelOMO. The Belarusian enterprise also developed a sight with a ballistic computer and a laser rangefinder GPD-1 (GS-2R).

The sight automatically calculates aiming angles and aiming mark displacement in accordance with the measured ambient temperature, range to the target and the specified type of ammunition used. It can be equipped with a removable thermal imaging attachment screwed into the sight from the front, as well as a removable night vision attachment. The ballistic computer provides the calculation of the necessary corrections over the entire range of 700 meters of effective use. These kinds of sights are used only on much more expensive anti-tank systems such as Western NLAW, which are between RPGs and ATGMs.

For Russia itself, the grenade launcher turned out to be too complicated and expensive, it was not accepted into service. The Independent Military Review even wrote that Russia does not even need an RPG-32, because “a new grenade launcher system is being developed in Russia, which will probably be able to destroy armored vehicles as a kind”. Allegedly it will be “the absolute weapon of battlefields".

Russia has not yet invented anything like this, but Jordan actually built a plant for its production: a company called JADARA Equipment & Defense Systems. Its website details the grenade launcher, and mentions Belarusian sights, although their developers are not mentioned.

How could the Ukrainian troops capture a grenade launcher, if Russians do not have it? The Zerkalo news publisher suggests that the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured it from some unit that is not formally part of the Russian army. For example, it could be in service with the fighters of the PMC Wagner, the Akhmat Kadyrov 141st Regiment, the South Battalion, or the Akhmat SOBR (the last three groups are commonly referred to as "Kadyrovites"). All of them can really have weapons that are different from the standards of the Russian army.

The Security Service of Ukraine reported a month before that they noticed the use of the RPG-32 by militants of the unrecognized “LPR/DPR”. These "people's militia" could have received a batch of modern grenade launchers from Russia.