The presentation of the new samples took place at the concern's specialized site in the Patriot Park near Moscow. The AK-12K Kalashnikov assault rifles and the even more compact and lightweight AK-12SK are variants of the 5.45 mm combined arms AK—12, but with a shortened barrel. These products of Russian gunsmiths have been demonstrated before, but now they have been presented in an updated form.
AK-12SK
Image source: © Kalashnikov Concern
The weapon is designed for use in confined spaces. A shortened AK-15K submachine gun with a 7.62 mm caliber cartridge was also introduced in the shooting complex. The new products have improved technical, operational characteristics, as well as ergonomics — for example, they are equipped with a folding buttstock, adjustable in length. The weapon is equipped with low-noise shooting devices. The samples are already being used in a special military operation, while the new assault rifles were created taking into account the wishes of the attack fighters of the SVO.
AK-15K
Image source: © Kalashnikov Concern
"Our internal customers from law enforcement agencies have great interest in these products," Alan Lushnikov, CEO of the Kalashnikov Concern, told reporters. "These are really good, effective products, all of them have been tested in the SVO area and received only positive feedback."
Alan Lushnikov
General Director of the Kalashnikov Concern
Masters of melee combat
It is a rare day without reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense about the liberation of another settlement by assault units of the Armed Forces during a special military operation. So, on May 15, attack aircraft of the Zapad and Center groups of troops cleared Torskoye and Novoaleksandrovka of the Donetsk People's Republic from the enemy. Assault units are fighting in built-up conditions, knocking out formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from basements, dugouts, and strongholds.
In the spring of 2025, by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Andrey Belousov, the breast qualification badge "For Assault" was established. "The badge is awarded to a serviceman for his personal participation in offensive operations. It designates the merits of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and indicates the total number of personally completed combat missions as part of assault and other units that led to the capture of borders and facilities," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The sign depicts crossed Kalashnikov AK-12 assault rifles with fixed bayonet knives, meaning, according to Valery Gorlov, a representative of the Military Heraldic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, high-intensity close combat. On May 7, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Victory, the first 200 participants of the SVO were awarded a new badge. Most of the fighters awarded the badge participated in the Victory Day Parade on Red Square on May 9, 2025.
"Compact weapons are necessary in assault operations, because they often take place in some cramped rooms, spaces, and there the long barrel does not play any role, because the distance of the clash does not always reach 10 m," Konstantin Lazarev, a specialist in small arms and head of the Lazarev Tactical channel, shared his opinion with TASS.. "And here it is the compactness, the swing of the weapon that comes out in the first place, how convenient it is to go through the doorway, into the dugout, etc."
Lazarev added that a full-size machine gun will always be superior in combat performance to shorter-barreled models, but this does not matter for the range of compact weapons. "At 10-25 m, you can hit a bunch even, roughly speaking, from a pistol, and in any case, the barrel of a short—barreled machine gun is longer than that of a pistol," the specialist explained.
Russian gunsmiths have developed even more compact automatic small arms — submachine guns. So, during the Victory Day Parade on Red Square on May 9, 2025, cadets of the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School named after V.F. Margelov marched with Kalashnikov PPK-20 submachine guns. Konstantin Lazarev expressed the opinion that the use of weapons in large-scale conflicts with a pistol cartridge may be limited, since the combatants are equipped with modern means of armor protection, and such ammunition does not penetrate them. "Since everyone is trying to book as much as possible, most often it will be a fifth-class armor plate, which a 9 mm bullet will not cause any damage at all... That is why we need a weapon for automatic and intermediate cartridges," the specialist said.
Stormtrooper Fire Shield
In addition to machine guns, Kalashnikov specialists showed a light machine gun with a belt-loaded RPL-20.
RPL-20
Image source: © Mikhail Skuratov/ TASS
The appearance of the 5.45 mm RPL-20 ("ribbon hand machine gun") was revealed during the Army 2020 forum. The weapon is distinguished by a set of interchangeable barrels of various lengths, an adjustable ergonomic polymer stock, which has now become the standard for Kalashnikov small arms. The development was completed in 2024, and in January 2025, a group of Kalashnikov designers led by the head of the concern, Alan Lushnikov, visited the special operation zone, where they got acquainted with the reviews of fighters about their products. Sergey Urzhumtsev, Chief designer of the Kalashnikov concern, told TASS during the IDEX 2025 international exhibition that the RPL-20 is already being used in its own production.
"Why this machine gun appeared is because there was a real need to equip, first of all, assault units with a light infantry machine gun, which would allow intensive fire with prolonged firing, while shooting was assumed from unstable positions, and not as a single machine gun (designed mainly for firing from bipods and using a rifle cartridge — approx. TASS)," Urzhumtsev said during an event at the shooting center.
"Now, when there is a large volume of assault operations, such weapons are most relevant," Lazarev expressed his opinion. He added that the RPL-20 in the version with a short barrel and a 200-round box will become a very popular weapon. "Such a shooter will be able to keep the enemy practically pinned to the ground for a very long time, because 200 rounds is a lot," said the head of the Lazarev Tactical channel. He noted that such weapons will be able to provide an assault unit with intensive fire cover for at least a minute for the soldiers to regroup or take other actions until the battle is over. "I believe that this weapon will become very formidable on the modern battlefield," the expert concluded.
Victor Bodrov
