Meet the terrifying new tactical machine gun system Ukraine is testing

Will it be a powerful new tool for the country's infantry?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine revealed how large-scale modern fighting changed. New combat realities for soldiers on the frontlines have required clever solutions to old complex problems, which is why Ukraine developed a new type of machine gun tactical system

Ukrainian military authorities began testing a brand-new tactical machine gun in September 2023, and the country's Ministry of Defense pointed out it would face off against Russian soldiers in real-world combat to see if the new system would add to Ukrainian capabilities.

The RBPP-500 tactical complex

The machine gun systems are known as the RBPP-500 tactical complex according to a press release from Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, and the weapons look quite intimidating from the images released.

Perched on the back of a soldier is the RBPP-500's belt-feed ammunition backpack which has a five hundred-round capacity for 7.62×54 millimeter calibre rounds and is intended to be used with a PKM machine gun. This new tactical complex weapons system can also be used with 7.62×51 millimeter caliber rounds for MG 42 machine guns according to the press release published by Ukraine's Ministry of Defence.

The tactical machine gun system has been given the codename Khyzhak, which means predator in English, and it was designed for the continuous supply of machine gun belts to assist troops on the frontlines.

ukraine's Ministry of Defense noted that several tests of the Khyzhak RBPP-500 tactical complex machine gun system showed the weapon's reliability and effectiveness, which is why is now being adopted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Khyzhak took just forty-five days to make it from design to adoption. This was all because of the defense ministry’s accelerator program, which works to provision weapons for Ukrainian troops quickly.