Russian army equipped with new RPK-16 automatic gun
One of the leading Russian manufacturers of small arms, the Kalashnikov concern, will supply the Russian Army with RPK-16 machine guns. The contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense was signed in early February. This new Russian weapon has also attracted the attention of foreign military circles. The article below will tell you why?
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| Kalashnikov announced mass production of new automatic gun |
RPK-16 - 5.45 mm caliber medium machine gun (more precisely - uses 5.45 x 39mm ammunition), built on the basis of the new AK-12 model, which has just been officially adopted by the Russian army. RPK-16 and AK-12 are almost identical in layout, but the medium machine gun has a longer and more rigid barrel cover.
The RPK-16 can be fired with a tripod or in hand, or while moving at a high rate of fire - 700 rounds per minute. In addition, the RPK-16 is different from other famous guns in Vietnam such as the 7.62 mm RPK model of 1959 (based on the AKM), or the 5.45-mm caliber version RPK-74 (74M) of 1974 (1992) (based on the AK-74) - which can be used as a heavy machine gun. There are long (580mm) and short (415mm) barrel versions.
In principle, it takes only a few minutes to change the RPK-16 barrel and lock the breech into the barrel housing with a horizontal wedge. The ability of the RPK-16 to quickly adapt to combat conditions, arouses great interest among both domestic and foreign military experts.
The RPK-16 automatic machine gun - a classic weapon developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and his students, has proven its reliability since the time of the AK-47. According to expert Maxim Popenker, the RPK-16 - is truly a versatile weapon: the RPK-16 with a short barrel can be used by special forces as an "assault gun", as a personal weapon. The gun weighs about 1 kg more than the AK-12, but allows a small unit to create effective suppressive fire, support the maneuver of comrades or prevent unexpected actions of the enemy.