#PKM

In June 2024, Izvestiya reported that a new experimental machine gun had been developed in Russia. This weapon is named the PKZ and was created in Perm at OOO Labi, the Design Bureau Perm Designers for Victory. The small company started out producing new ammunition cans for the PKM, which inspired him to kit for the PKM. The PKZ is a significantly shorter version of the PKM, though I could not find any specific barrel length. It was noted that this machine gun was developed for use in what is referred to as the Special Military Operation (SVO), which pertains to the Russo-Ukraine War.

The PKM is one of the most enduring battlefield weapons of the modern era. Designed in the Soviet Union over 60 years ago, it’s still in service today in conflicts around the world. But why has no one replaced it? In this video, James Reeves goes beyond basic field tests and takes a deep dive into the PKM’s design, reliability, and legacy. With firsthand footage, interviews, and engineering studies from Poland, Vietnam, and Egypt, this is the most thoroughly researched breakdown of the PKM ever made. From Cold War trials to modern combat zones, here’s why the PKM refuses to die.

This is a continuation of my machine gun series. In 2008, NATO supported Georgia's bid to join the alliance and created a commission to oversee the accession process. Georgia must fulfill several requirements, including modernizing its army and standardizing Western weapons and ammunition. In 2017, the Georgian Ministry of Defense started replacing the Soviet-made PKM general-purpose machine guns with the M240B 7.62x51mm medium machine gun.

This series of articles primarily focuses on the post-Soviet states in the South Caucasus region, which have inherited large stockpiles of arms from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, these stockpiles are finite and are rapidly depleted during conflicts. This issue is particularly evident in the long-standing tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over regional territorial disputes, which trace back to the aftermath of World War I.

It is common to compare machine guns, particularly the PKM and the M240/MAG-58. This overview will provide a brief comparison. While the PKM shows strong performance on paper and during range evaluations, making it an excellent option for direct assault scenarios, the M240 may be more effective when tactics and doctrine are considered.

The earliest known example of the Soviet Union's development of a universal or general-purpose machine gun concept is the Degtyarev prototype in 1941. This was a tumultuous time for the Soviet Union as the war unfolded. As the conflict escalated, requirements shifted, and attention was diverted to other priorities. The Soviet Union needed a nudge to revisit this concept, which came in the form of the German MG34 and MG42 machine guns and the German military doctrine surrounding universal machine guns during the war.

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machinegun story, Part 2 was dedicated to the bureaucratic hoops he initially had to jump through, Part 3 described the technical triаls and competition between the Kalashnikov and his rivals, Nikitin and Sokolov. Part 4 was about the troop trials. Part 5 outlined the final results of all the tests.

In   Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machinegun story, Part 2 was dedicated to the bureaucratic hoops he initially had to jump through, Part 3 described the technical triаls and competition between the Kalashnikov and his rivals, Nikitin and Sokolov. Part 4 was about troop trials. In this chapter, I will talk about the end of the trials and their results.

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machinegun story, Part 2 was dedicated to the bureaucratic hoops he initially had to jump through, Part 3 described the technical triаls and competition between the Kalashnikov and his rivals, Nikitin and Sokolov. In this chapter, I will go into the story of troop trials that determined the destiny of Kalashnikov GPMG.

In  Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machinegun story, Part 2 was dedicated to the bureaucratic hoops he initially had to jump through. In this chapter, I will talk about the technical triаls and competition between Kalashnikov and his rivals, Nikitin and Sokolov.

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the beginning of the Kalashnikov machine gun story. In this chapter, I will get into details of how Kalashnikov managed to go through with his design against all odds.