GP-25

Russia’s workhorse 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher — a single-shot, muzzle-loaded, caseless weapon that rides beneath AK-pattern rifles and has seen every major Soviet and Russian war since Afghanistan.

Overview

The GP-25 “Kostyor” (Bonfire) is a single-shot, under-barrel grenade launcher designed to clamp directly onto the standard-issue AKM and AK-74 assault rifles. It fires a unique family of 40mm caseless ammunition — the propellant charge is integral to the grenade, so there is no spent case to eject — and gives the infantry squad organic high-explosive fire without a dedicated grenadier weapon. Alongside its evolved variants, the GP-30 and GP-34, the GP-25 remains the standard Russian under-barrel launcher and has been widely proliferated across post-Soviet and Soviet-legacy forces.

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