[3] The acronym GP stands for Granatomyot Podstvolnyj,[3] "under-barrel grenade launcher" in Russian, and was adopted by Soviet forces in 1978.
The development of a grenade launcher for the AKM assault rifle began in 1966 at the Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms (TsKIB SOO).
[3] The initial version was designated the BG-15 Mukha ("Fly"), and was mounted under the barrel of the AK-74 assault rifle.
The GP-30M is a grenade launcher of simplified model, consisting of a shorter 40mm rifled barrel in front of a basic trigger mechanism with minimal hand grip.
The current Izhmash-made version, the GP-34, has a further-redesigned sighting system located to the right side of the weapon and features the following advantages:
A grenade is first loaded from the muzzle, the weapon is aimed, and then the double-action trigger is pulled to fire.