The SVD is a 7.62 mm semi-automatic sniper rifle, developed in the former Soviet Union.
It was selected as the winner of a contest that included three competing designs: the first was a rifle (known as the SSV-58) designed by Sergei Simonov, the second (prototype designated 2B-W10) – by Alexander Konstantinov, and the third rifle, the SVD-137, was a design by Evgeny Dragunov. Extensive testing of the rifles in variable environmental conditions resulted in E. F. Dragunov’s design being accepted into service in 1963. At the same time an initial pre-production batch of 200 rifles was assembled, and from 1964 serial production was carried out at Izhmash.
Since then, the SVD has become the standard squad support weapon of several countries, including those of the former Warsaw Pact, among them Poland (since 1966) where it's called the SWD. Licensed production of the rifle was established in China (Type 79 and Type 85) and Iran (as a direct copy of the Chinese Type-79).
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