From Rifles to Wheeled Kamikaze Bots: Top 5 New Weapons Strengthening Russia’s Military

This week, Russia marked Gunsmiths Day, honoring makers of the armaments tasked with protecting the homeland, including the weapons now being used against Ukraine’s NATO-armed, trained and advised proxy armies. These are the top five, according to Matviychuk.

Rekord (SV-98M) Sniper Rifle: A deeply modernized variant of the SV-98 bolt-action sniper rifle for special ops troops, the Rekord (lit. ‘Record’) is essentially “a completely new design,” in Matviychuk’s words, with the 7.62 mm rifle now much lighter, and featuring a lethal range of up to 1,500 meters (up from 1,000 meters in the original SV-98). The rifle’s ergonomics have been completely redesigned, including a new buttstock, and brackets for the attachment of an array of optional equipment, from night vision and thermal imagers to advanced scopes. As a bonus, the new rifle has been made fully compatible with common 20-round SVD magazines.

RPL-20 Light Machinegun: A brand new take on Kalashnikov’s classic RPK machinegun design, the RPL-20 features variants capable of firing 7.62 or 5.45 cartridges. “The know-how behind this particular weapon is that it can fire magazines, drums or be belt-fed. The latter provides the machinegun with a big advantage over exclusively magazine-based models, which have traditionally had a very limited supply of cartridges that tended to run out quickly,” Matviychuk explained. “In defense, it’s enough to ensure a large supply of ammo belts, and it will function almost like a large, heavy machinegun.” It can also be attached to armored vehicles or helicopters.

Lyagushka Wheeled Kamikaze Bot: “We have seized the initiative on the development of kamikaze robots from the enemy,” Matviychuk said, citing the Lyagushka (lit. ‘Frog’) ground-based wheeled, electric motor-powered combat robot as an example. Fitted with a modified 10 kg TM-62 anti-tank mine (or other payloads of up to 30 kg), the drone is tasked with approaching fortified enemy positions through rough, snowy, sandy, or swampy terrain undetected and detonating. Controlled by a secure cable or secure radio channel, the drone has been in operation in the SMO since the spring of 2024.

Rapira Drone Swarm Defense: This is an “air defense system of a completely new type,” in Matviychuk’s words, “capable of recognizing small targets, targeting and hitting them successfully” using modern radar and non-missile weaponry. Rapira (lit. ‘Rapier’) counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs) have two modifications – the Rapira-2 – armed with PKT 7.62 mm machineguns, and the Rapira-3, featuring repurposed old school S-8 80 mm proximity-fuse rockets. Both can be mounted on an array of 4x4 wheeled or tracked platforms. Working in combination, the Rapira-2 and 3 can take out drones of any size or profile, from small, cheap FPV drones to large, aircraft-style UAVs.

Karakal Heavy Tracked Drone: Developed by Kurganmashzavod, makers of Russia’s famous BMP series of IFVs, the Karakal (lit. ‘Caracal Lynx’) is new 3.4 ton tankette with a 500 kg payload, a 1.5 km remote control range, a 150 km endurance and a 15 km top speed. The heavy drone is perfect for frontline use, Matviychuk says, providing troops in the field with ammunition, water, food and capacity to evacuate the wounded at any time, day or night, and under any weather and terrain conditions. Equipped with three video cameras, including night vision, the tankette can theoretically be armed.