I’m excited to share this collaboration with firearms researcher Deni Almaskhanov, of Just Guns. Deni had the chance to attend the Army 2024 exposition in Moscow earlier this month. He has very kindly shared some great video and information about the latest version of Kalashnikov Concern’s RPL-20 light machine gun. 

The Russian armed forces haven’t used belt-fed LMGs since 1959 when the RPD was replaced by the RPK. The RPK-74M has been considered obsolescent since 2011. Kalashnikov Concern began exploring an RPK replacement in the 2010s with the RPK-16. The RPK-16 failed to satisfy the military due to issues with overheating and the reliability of its 96-rounds drum magazines. The RPL is a direct follow-up to the ‘Kipchak’ program during which the now extremely rare RPK-16 was trialed. 

The RPL-20 was initially unveiled four years ago during the Army 2020 exposition but was stated to still be in development. 

The RPL is a belt-fed light machine gun, chambered in 5.45×39mm, it feeds from metal non-disintegrating belts, carried in 100- or 200-rounds textile boxes, with a quick attach/detach mechanism. It fires from an open bolt but does not have a quick change barrel, although it is possible to replace the barrel during the disassembly of the weapon. This aligns the RPL with the simultaneously emerging Western concept of the light assault machine guns like the FN EVOLYS and the Knight’s Armament LAMG amongst others.

Deni explains that the lower receiver is “fixed with a pin in the front end and a latch in the rear end… the latch is pressed, unlocking the pivoting movement of the lower receiver. Such a design was chosen to address the common requirement for all the modern firearms – a continuous top Picatinny rail that would allow for reliable mounting of accessories and aiming devices.” The receiver can be opened this way to reload, however, a faster and more expedient method of reloading the RPL-20 is to simply push a new belt through the firearm’s feed block and pulling the starter tab until the first round seats. 

The RPL-20 has a 2-position adjustable gas block mounted onto the barrel. Kalsashnikov Concern’s chief-designer Sergey Urzhumtsev describes the action of the machine gun as ‘an upside-down PKM’, but there are some important mechanical differences, such as the fact that the RPL-20 uses a push-through belt, unlike the PKM which pulls each cartridge backwards from the belt before chambering it. 

On the right side of the receiver, the RPL has a non-reciprocating T-shaped charging handle mounted onto a strong coil spring that is intended to prevent the charging handle from bending the weapon’s receiver or breaking the handle in the event of a heavy strike against it.

There are selector switches on both the left and right sides of the receiver only and the weapon fires in fully automatic fire only. The pistol grip and the buttstock are the same as those being also used on the 2nd and 3rd generations of the AK-12. The buttstock differs slightly in that it has an adjustable cheek rest and a foldable shoulder rest that can be flipped up over the shoulder. The gun on display was also seen with a cant-adjustable vertical front grip attached to the 6 o’clock rail.

There is a small Picatinny rail at the muzzle end of the barrel intended for attaching the bipod in the forward position. With an alternate position on the handguard giving the user some tactical flexibility.
The handguard is not a separate piece but a continuation of the upper receiver and it is connected to the barrel via the gas block. The weapon has a threaded muzzle device to allow the fitting of suppressors.

There are some notable external changes from the earlier iteration of the RPL. The weapon now has fixed front and rear sight protectors rather than folding iron sights. It also has some changes to the receiver geometry with the receiver no longer having a step but a slope ahead of the breech and more, angled, ventilation holes in the receiver.  

The RPL-20 is reportedly undergoing state trials this year, so its remains to be seen if the light assault machine gun concept is one which the Russian MoD wishes to pursue. The nature of the war in Ukraine means that urban fighting and trench clearing have become increasingly important, perhaps this is a niche into which the RPL would fit.

My special thanks again to Deni for sharing this brilliant footage and information with me so I can bring you guys this video. Please do check out Deni’s pages – Telegram, Instagram, Youtube.

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