The
RPK (
Ruchnoy Pulemyot Kalashnikova, or "Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun") is a
7.62×39mm light machine gun of
Soviet design, developed by
Mikhail Kalashnikov in the late 1950s, parallel with the
AKM assault rifle. It was created as part of a program designed to standardize the small arms inventory of the
Red Army, where it replaced the 7.62×39mm
RPD light machine gun. The RPK continues to be used by the armed forces of countries of the former Soviet Union and certain
African and
Asian nations. The RPK was also manufactured in
Bulgaria,
Poland, and
Romania.