RPD: The 80-year-old section light machine gun given a new life in Ukraine

A light machine gun that was designed eight decades ago is turning up on the frontline in Ukraine.

The RPD can be used in the section support role but can also be operated by a single soldier to assault a position, including a trench.

It was designed back in 1943/44 but only made it into large-scale production in the Soviet Union in 1953.

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The RPD – Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova – is a 7.62x39mm weapon with a gas-operated long-stroke piston that fires from an open bolt.

Vasily Degtyaryov designed it for the M43 cartridge and it is a precursor of intermediate-calibre squad automatic weapons such as the Minimi and the L86.

It has an effective firing range of 100 to 1,000 metres and is fed by two non-disintegrating 50-round belts in a drum-shaped box magazine.

In Soviet service, it was replaced after about 10 years by the Kalashnikov-based RPK, but has continued to appear on battlefields, including in Ukraine, right up to the present day.

Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum, explains why this 80-year-old design might be a weapon of choice for Ukrainian soldiers, rather than one of necessity.