ZSU-57-2
Encyclopedia
The ZSU-57-2 is a Soviet
self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannon
s. 'ZSU' stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount", '57' stands for the bore of the armament in millimetres and '2' stands for the number of gun barrels. It was the first Soviet mass-produced tracked SPAAG. In the USSR it had the unofficial nickname "Sparka", meaning "pair", referring to the twin autocannon with which the vehicle is armed.
had been used to good effect in the final battles of World War II.
In 1942, Soviet engineers developed the T-60-3. The vehicle, based on the T-60 light tank chassis, was armed with two 12.7 mm DShK
heavy machine guns; but the prototype did not go into production because of flaws in the design. The SU-72 SPAAG and several other experimental vehicles based on the T-60 or T-70
light tank chassis and armed with 37 mm autocannon were also tested in 1942–1943. The ZSU-37
was based on the chassis of the SU-76
M self propelled gun (SPG) and armed with a 37 mm 61K anti-aircraft autocannon in an open-top rotating armoured turret. The vehicle entered production in February 1945 and was in small-scale production until 1948.
After World War II it became clear that the firepower of a single 37 mm AA gun was not effective against high-speed, low-altitude targets. SPAAGs based on light tank chassis had poor maneuverability in difficult terrain, slow off-road speed and insufficient range in comparison with medium tanks and SPGs. Thus the ZSU-37s were retired from service by the end of the 1940s.
A (which were armed with 2 or 4 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun
s). Such vehicles were designated ZTPU-2 or ZTPU-4 correspondingly and BTR-40
A (ZTPU-2) wheeled SPAAGs. Two of the USSR's potential enemies – the United States and Great Britain, had high-quality air forces with substantial ground-attack experience. The need for a new tracked AA vehicle was apparent.
In February 1946, the Design Bureau of Works No. 174 in Omsk
and the Research Institute No. 58 in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast
submitted a joint project for a SPAAG based on the T-34
tank chassis, to be armed with four 37 mm AA guns, to the Technical Council of the Ministry of Transport. However, the project did not proceed due to the desire to concentrate attention on the newest tank chassis available.
The Design Bureau of Research Institute No. 58 (NII-58) (formerly known as the Central Artillery Design Bureau, TsAKB), under the supervision of V.G. Grabin
, began the development of a twin 57 mm S-68 automatic anti-aircraft gun based on the 57 mm S-60 in the spring of 1947. The first S-68 prototype (with ESP-76 electric drive), was ready in 1948. It was initially mounted on a S-79A four-wheel carriage; that system passed various tests but did not go into production.
The final project of the ZSU-57-2 (Ob'yekt 500), armed with twin S-68s and based on a light-weight T-54 tank chassis, was finished in 1948. The first prototype ZSU-57-2 was built in June 1950, the second in December 1950. After official tests which took place between 27 January and 15 March 1951 in which the vehicle was driven for 1,500 km and 2,000 rounds were fired from its guns, six more prototypes were built for service tests. These prototypes had some improvements included, such as an increased ammunition load (300 rounds), but development stopped again due to the absence of improved S-68A guns. Various updates continued in 1952 and 1953. The service tests, in which two vehicles participated, took place in December 1954. This was due to delays in the development of drives for the S-68 guns. The ZSU-57-2 officially entered service in the Soviet Army on 14 February 1955.
To aim the guns, base data such as the target's speed, direction and range must be entered into the sighting system by the sight adjuster, who sits to the left of the guns at the rear of the turret. The target's speed and direction is determined by visual estimation, while range can also be estimated visually or with the rangefinder. The upper front of the turret has two small ports with armoured covers meant for collimator
s of the sight.
To fire the guns, the breeches must first be opened. The left and right loaders, located in the forward part of the turret on both sides of the main armament, load clips into the magazines of their respective weapons. The loaders' travel seats should be stowed in clamps on the turret sides before opening fire. The gunner, seated on the left hand side in the middle of the turret, aims the gun and opens fire using an electric trigger, common to all barrels, or a pedal, which is individual for each barrel. If manual mechanical drive is used instead of electrohydraulic drive, three crew members instead of two should work with the sight. The commander, who sits on the right hand side in the middle of the turret, aims the gun in azimuth, the gunner aims the gun in elevation and the sight adjuster enters data into the sight. The loaders feed clips into the twin autocannon manually as needed.
. The guns have a recoil of between 325 and 370 mm. The individual weapons cannot be swapped from one side to the other as they are mirror images. Each air-cooled gun barrel is 4.365 m long (76.6 bores) and is fitted with a muzzle brake. They can be elevated or depressed between −5° and +85° at a speed of between 0.3° and 20° per second, the turret can traverse 360° at a speed of between 0.2° and 36° per second. Drive is from a direct current electric motor and universal hydraulic speed gears (a manual mechanical drive is also provided in case of electrohydraulic failure; with the use of mechanical drive, elevation speed is 4.5° per second and the turret traverse speed is 4° per second).
The guns are capable of firing up to 210–240 fragmentation and armour-piercing tracer rounds per minute, with a practical rate of fire of between 100 and 140 rounds per minute. Muzzle velocity is 1,000 m/s. Each clip has 4 rounds, each of which weighs 6.6 kg; the charge in each round consists of 1.2 kg of 11/7 nitro-cellulose powder, a projectile weighs 2.8 kg. Maximum horizontal range is 12 km (with an effective range against ground targets of up to 4 km / 2.5 miles. Maximum vertical range is 8.8 km with a maximum effective vertical range of 4.5 km / 14,750 ft). Fragmentation rounds have a safety-destructor which activates between 12 and 16 seconds after being fired so the maximum slant range of anti-aircraft fire is 6.5–7 km. BR-281 armour-piercing rounds are able to penetrate 110 mm armour at 500 m or 70 mm armour at 2,000 m (at 90° impact angle).
The S-68 autocannon was the most powerful AA gun installed on SPAAGs at that time. According to the statistical data of the Air Defence Research Institute No. 2, a direct hit of a single 57 mm shell could destroy a contemporary jet aircraft. In order to shoot down a jet bomber of the Canberra
type, an average of 1.7 hits were deemed necessary.
The vehicle carries 300 rounds, and the ammunition is stowed as follows: 176 rounds in clips inside the turret, 72 rounds in clips in the hull front, and 52 separate (unclipped) rounds in special compartments under the turret floor. Armour-piercing rounds in clips are placed in the rear part of the turret to the left and right of the guns. Empty shell cases and clips are removed via a conveyor belt through a special port in the turret rear into an external metal wire basket on the back of the turret.
Armour thickness is as follows:
The ZSU-57-2 uses the same engine as the T-54. It is a V-54 12-cylinder four-stroke V-shaped 38.88 litre water-cooled diesel which develops 520 hp (388 kW) at 2,000 rpm. The engine itself weighs 895 kg. Fuel capacity is 830 litres carried in three fuel tanks inside the hull (640 l total) and two external fuel tanks on the right fender each of 95 l; fuel capacity was increased in comparison with the T-54. External rear-mounted supplemental fuel tanks can increase the road range to 595 km.
The mechanical transmission in the rear part of the hull consists of a change gear quadrant, a multiplate main clutch of metallic contact, a manual gearbox with five forward gears, two multiplate planetary steering clutches with band brakes and two in-line final drive groups.
The chassis has four twin rubber-tyred road wheels with individual torsion bar suspension, a rear drive sprocket with detachable sprocket rings (lantern-wheel gear) and an idler wheel on each side. The first and last road wheels each have a hydraulic rotary shock absorber. The track is 12.33 m long, 580 mm wide and has 90 links; despite having four road wheels instead of five the ground contact area of the track is the same as the T-54 (3.84 m). Track center distance is 2.64 m The vehicle has a ground pressure of 0,63 kg/cm².
The ZSU-57-2 is equipped with an automatic anti-aircraft sight of the plotter type with two collimators which can supervise a target with a speed of up to 350 m/s, a dive angle of between 0° and 90° and a slant range of up to 5,500 m; a simple mechanical sight is provided in case of failure. There is also an optical sight for direct fire at ground targets.
The 10RT-26E portable radio transceiver
is located on the right hand side of the turret interior. It has a range of 9 to 20 km when the vehicle is stationary, and from 7 to 15 km when the vehicle is on the move. It was later replaced by R-113 or R-113 radio transceivers. The TPU-4-47 intercom system was later replaced by R-120 or R-124 intercom systems.
Small arms for the crew members include two AK-47
assault rifles and a 26 mm signalling pistol.
Although the ZSU-57-2 had the highest firepower among production SPAAGs of its time, the anti-aircraft fire efficiency of a battery of four vehicles was even lower than that of a battery of six towed 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft guns controlled by the PUAZO-6 anti-aircraft artillery director with the SON-9 fire control radar or later by the RPK-1 Vaza radar. It became obvious that the hit probability on a jet aircraft of the era was very low using only determination of target speed by aircraft type and determination of distance to the target by eye or by rangefinder; the ZSU-57-2 was designed to defend tank units against NATO attack aircraft flying at subsonic speeds, but it entered service ten years too late. Aircraft technology had improved to the point that a SPAAG required a much higher rate of fire, turret traverse speeds of 50–100° per second and a fully automatic radar-controlled fire control system. Works No. 174 started a modernization programme for the ZSU-57-2 in parallel with the beginning of its serial production in 1957, but this programme was rejected due to the development of new radar-guided SPAAGs armed with small-bore autocannons and another tracked chassis.
The ZSU-57-2 still retained some of the features of its predecessor, the ZSU-37. One of them was the lack of an armoured roof on the turret. The advantages of an open turret for SPAAGs, such as very high elevation angle for AA autocannons, excellent visibility of the combat situation by the gunners and no need for induced ventilation of the fighting compartment during intense fire were significantly over-shadowed by the disadvantages. The open turret of the ZSU-57-2 made it vulnerable from above, and prevented operations under NBC conditions. This flaw was partially nullified in modified Bosnian Serb ZSU-57-2s which had improvised overhead armour protection.
Nevertheless, its Western counterparts that were operationally available in the 1950s, such as the US M19 GMC (based on the M24 Chaffee
light tank) and the M42 Duster
SPAAGs (both armed with the famous 40 mm Bofors M2A1 twin AA gun
) and the British Crusader AA
SPAAG which was armed with a single 40 mm Bofors AA gun, had similar problems and were armed with less powerful weapons. The M42 Duster was modernized and equipped with a T50 radar system in 1956 (production of the ZSU-57-2 had not started at this point).
began producing the hulls and turrets, the first vehicles were completed in 1957 after the first 249 57 mm twin S-68 guns were produced by the Artillery Works No. 946 located in Krasnoyarsk
. A total of 5,300 of these weapons were produced by the end of the 1950s. The hulls and turrets were produced by No. 174 Works where the final assembly also took place while the Krasnoyarsk Works, belonging to the Ministry of Heavy Engineering, participated in some production stages. The ZSU-57-2 remained in production until 1960 when the No. 174 Works stopped producing the hulls and turrets for ZSU-57-2. More than 2,023 ZSU-57-2s were produced in Soviet Union.
250 ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs based on the Chinese Type 59
(a copy of the Soviet T-54A) tank chassis were produced under license in North Korea. The turrets were bought from the USSR and delivered between 1968 and 1977. Since the production of the ZSU-57-2 turrets ended in 1960 the turrets that North Korea bought must have came from decommissioned Soviet ZSU-57-2s. The turrets were ordered in 1967.
Initially, tank regiments had a single battery equipped with four SPAAGs, later increased to two batteries, each equipped with four SPAAGs. The vehicle was also used by some motor rifle regiments (which in the 1960s had one battery equipped with four SPAAGs or, more likely, with six 23 mm ZU-23
towed twin AA guns). The anti-aircraft performance of the ZSU-57-2, however, was quickly found to be unsatisfactory and, because of rapid air force development, the vehicle was deemed obsolete by the early 1960s.
ZSU-57-2s were gradually replaced by radar-guided ZSU-23-4 Shilkas at the beginning of 1965. Towards the end of the 1960s, a frequent configuration was one battery of an AA battalion in a tank regiment equipped with ZSU-23-4s and another battery equipped with ZSU-57-2s. Unpopular in the Soviet Army, the ZSU-57-2 was replaced by ZSU-23-4s by the early 1970s.
Most ZSU-57-2s were put into reserve storage while a few remained in service in tank training centres (as vehicles for driver training), until the end of the 1970s. Some were converted by army workshops into bulldozers. The last ZSU-57-2s were scrapped in the 1980s, while some dismantled vehicles were used as gunnery range targets. One is preserved in the Kubinka Tank Museum
.
members—Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania—used it, as well as Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria. North Vietnam and North Korea may have received theirs without payment.
received 129 vehicles, eventually replacing them with ZSU-23-4s between 1967 and 1974. The ZSU-57-2 was completely gone from East German service by 1979. Some of the vehicles were converted into FAB 500U training vehicles for T-54 drivers and were passed on to the unified German state.
and two at the Polish Army Museum
in Warsaw
.
was comparable to the ZSU-57-2.
ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1963. Deliveries were completed between 1963 and 1964. They were passed on to the successor states during the 1992 breakup of the federal state. They were then used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There were 54 of those vehicles in service as of 1999, but this number decreased to 36 in the subsequent decade; they were withdrawn from active service by 2003. However the Yugoslav military still possessed them and after the creation of Serbia and Montenegro
they were scrapped. Two vehicles captured by Croatian forces during the Croatian War of Independence
and were later also scrapped.
attempted to manufacture a copy with the improved amphibious chassis of the Type 69-II tank. Several Type 80 SPAAGs were tested and accepted into service by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in small numbers. It was originally intended for the export market but didn't sell well. Greater success was achieved by Chinese-made proximity fuses which could be used to modernize the S-60 and S-68 ammunition.
Iraq ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1970 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1971 and 1973. The New Iraqi Army does not use these vehicles.
Iran ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1966 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1967 and 1968. Around 90 remained in service until 2002.
Egypt ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1960 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1961 and 1962. ZSU-57-2s were not very successful during either the Six-Day war
in 1969 or the Yom Kippur War
in 1973. Despite that, the Egyptian Army operated 40 ZSU-57-2s as of 2003 and equipped them with radars. Egypt also bought Chinese-made proximity fuzes for its S-60 and S-68 ammunition.
The Israelis captured a number of ZSU-57-2s from the Egyptians or Syrians. One was given to the Yad la-Shiryon Tank Museum
in Latrun, another was given to the Batey ha-Osef museum of the history of the Israeli Defense Forces in Tel Aviv and the third (captured in 1973) – to the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim.
. They remain in service.
by the Vietnam People's Army
(VPA), beginning with the Easter Offensive in 1972. It also saw action during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign
in 1975. Several batteries of ZSU-57-2s were used for the air defence of the 201st and 202nd tank regiments during the Easter Offensive of 1972. ZSU-57-2s were used by the VPA against US aircraft but it proved to be more effective against ground targets. The ZSU-57-2 was expensive to operate, which was why the Chinese developed the Type 63 SPAAG based on the T-34 tank chassis for Vietnamese troops (see People's Republic of China section in T-34 variants
). South Vietnam also used captured ZSU-57-2s. About 500 ZSU-57-2s survived the war. 200 are still in service.
in 1973, in both cases by Egypt and Syria. A battery of Egyptian ZSU-57-2s together with T-34
s defended El-Arish airstrip. They were broken by a company of Israeli M48 Patton
MBTs belonged to the 7th armoured brigade during an intense action on 6 June 1967. ZSU-57-2s were not generally successful and a number fell into Israeli hands. Syria used ZSU-57-2s during the 1982 Lebanon War
during which they engaged in a fight with the Israeli air force in the Beqaa Valley
. The obsolete vehicles didn't stand a chance against Israeli aircraft. However the vehicles fared much better when attacking land targets.
During the Iran–Iraq War, ZSU-57-2s were used by both Iraq and Iran. Iraq also used Chinese Type 80
s during this conflict and the First Persian Gulf War. Iraqi ZSU-57-2s, which could receive information from the radar on ZSU-23-4
s or 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin)/9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) surface-to-air missile systems were employed against Iranian AH-1J SeaCobra
attack helicopters.
On 16 January 1991, during the First Persian Gulf War, Iraqi ZSU-57-2s shot down a Tornado GR1
strike aircraft during an attack by four British aircraft on the Iraqi Shaibah
air base. The same day in the late evening one more Tornado GR1 was shot down and three other British Tornados were badly damaged by AA fire near Shaibah. ZSU-57-2s were also used in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
.
when Croatian forces captured two ZSU-57-2s from the JNA
. They were also used in the air defence role in 1999 during the NATO air raids against Yugoslavia when the Yugoslavs operated 54 of these vehicles.
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, another was given to the Batey ha-Osef museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. – 129 ZSU-57-2s ordered in 1957 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1957 and 1961. Replaced by the ZSU-23-4 "Sziłka"
. – 25 in 2002 - 60 ordered in 1965 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1965 and 1966 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). Phased out in the 1990s and replaced with Gepard SPAAGs. - – Replaced with the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka"
at the beginning of the 1970s; training units used the ZSU-57-2 at least until the end of the 1970s. - 500 including 100 ordered in 1971 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1971 and 1972 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). Passed on to the successor state. – A number captured from the VPA. – 100 delivered between 1963 and 1964.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
s. 'ZSU' stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount", '57' stands for the bore of the armament in millimetres and '2' stands for the number of gun barrels. It was the first Soviet mass-produced tracked SPAAG. In the USSR it had the unofficial nickname "Sparka", meaning "pair", referring to the twin autocannon with which the vehicle is armed.
Origins
During World War II, ground-attack aircraft emerged as a significant threat to mechanized units on the move. Conventional towed anti-aircraft (AA) artillery was an inadequate response under such conditions due to the time needed for bringing anti-aircraft machine guns into action. This experience made it clear that an anti-aircraft tracked vehicle, armed with small-bore autocannons or heavy machine guns, was needed. Vehicles such as the German WirbelwindWirbelwind
The Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind" was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Panzer IV tank. It was developed in 1944 as a successor to the earlier self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Möbelwagen....
had been used to good effect in the final battles of World War II.
In 1942, Soviet engineers developed the T-60-3. The vehicle, based on the T-60 light tank chassis, was armed with two 12.7 mm DShK
DShK
The DShK 1938 is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7x108mm cartridge. The weapon was also used as a heavy infantry machine gun, in which case it was frequently deployed with a two-wheeled mounting and a single-sheet armour-plate shield...
heavy machine guns; but the prototype did not go into production because of flaws in the design. The SU-72 SPAAG and several other experimental vehicles based on the T-60 or T-70
T-70
The T-70 was a light tank used by the Red Army during World War II, replacing both the T-60 scout tank for reconnaissance and the T-50 light infantry tank for infantry support. The T-80 light tank was a more advanced version of the T-70 with a two-man turret—it was only produced in very small...
light tank chassis and armed with 37 mm autocannon were also tested in 1942–1943. The ZSU-37
ZSU-37
ZSU-37 was a Soviet-made, light, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun , developed by the end of 1943 and produced at Works No. 40 in Mytishchi. It was the first Soviet series-produced tracked SPAAG...
was based on the chassis of the SU-76
SU-76
The SU-76 was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during and after World War II.- History :The SU-76 was based on a lengthened and widened version of the T-70 tank chassis...
M self propelled gun (SPG) and armed with a 37 mm 61K anti-aircraft autocannon in an open-top rotating armoured turret. The vehicle entered production in February 1945 and was in small-scale production until 1948.
After World War II it became clear that the firepower of a single 37 mm AA gun was not effective against high-speed, low-altitude targets. SPAAGs based on light tank chassis had poor maneuverability in difficult terrain, slow off-road speed and insufficient range in comparison with medium tanks and SPGs. Thus the ZSU-37s were retired from service by the end of the 1940s.
ZSU-57-2 prototypes
For several years after World War II there were no new SPAAG models in the USSR except for the BTR-152BTR-152
The BTR-152 was a non-amphibious Soviet wheeled armored personnel carrier that entered Soviet service in 1950. By the early 1970s it had been replaced in the infantry vehicle role by the BTR-60...
A (which were armed with 2 or 4 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun
KPV heavy machine gun
The KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun is a Soviet designed 14.5x114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy...
s). Such vehicles were designated ZTPU-2 or ZTPU-4 correspondingly and BTR-40
BTR-40
The BTR-40 is a Soviet non-amphibious, wheeled armoured personnel carrier and reconnaissance vehicle. It is often referred to as the Sorokovka in Soviet service. It is also the first mass-produced Soviet APC...
A (ZTPU-2) wheeled SPAAGs. Two of the USSR's potential enemies – the United States and Great Britain, had high-quality air forces with substantial ground-attack experience. The need for a new tracked AA vehicle was apparent.
In February 1946, the Design Bureau of Works No. 174 in Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
and the Research Institute No. 58 in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast
Korolyov (city)
Korolyov or Korolev is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, well known as the cradle of Soviet and Russian space exploration. It was originally founded as Kaliningrad in 1938 by Vasily Boldyrev, Naum Nosovsky, and Mikhail Loginov as the leading Soviet center for production of anti-tank...
submitted a joint project for a SPAAG based on the T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
tank chassis, to be armed with four 37 mm AA guns, to the Technical Council of the Ministry of Transport. However, the project did not proceed due to the desire to concentrate attention on the newest tank chassis available.
The Design Bureau of Research Institute No. 58 (NII-58) (formerly known as the Central Artillery Design Bureau, TsAKB), under the supervision of V.G. Grabin
Vasiliy Grabin
Vasiliy Gavrilovich Grabin was a Soviet artillery designer. He led a design bureau at Joseph Stalin Factory No...
, began the development of a twin 57 mm S-68 automatic anti-aircraft gun based on the 57 mm S-60 in the spring of 1947. The first S-68 prototype (with ESP-76 electric drive), was ready in 1948. It was initially mounted on a S-79A four-wheel carriage; that system passed various tests but did not go into production.
The final project of the ZSU-57-2 (Ob'yekt 500), armed with twin S-68s and based on a light-weight T-54 tank chassis, was finished in 1948. The first prototype ZSU-57-2 was built in June 1950, the second in December 1950. After official tests which took place between 27 January and 15 March 1951 in which the vehicle was driven for 1,500 km and 2,000 rounds were fired from its guns, six more prototypes were built for service tests. These prototypes had some improvements included, such as an increased ammunition load (300 rounds), but development stopped again due to the absence of improved S-68A guns. Various updates continued in 1952 and 1953. The service tests, in which two vehicles participated, took place in December 1954. This was due to delays in the development of drives for the S-68 guns. The ZSU-57-2 officially entered service in the Soviet Army on 14 February 1955.
Overview
Based on past experiences with SPAAG designs, Soviet engineers designed a vehicle that used a modified T-54 chassis, with four twin road wheels per side instead of five, and much thinner armour. The vehicle was armed with twin 57 mm S-68 autocannon in a new, large, rotating, open-topped turret. The ZSU-57-2 consists of three compartments: driver's in the front, fighting in the middle and engine-transmission at the rear. The hull is more spacious in comparison with the T-54 because of the thinner armour and has different locations for some equipment. The general layout, with transverse mounting of the engine, is the same.Driver's compartment
The driver's compartment is located on the left hand side of the front of the hull. The driver's seat is moved forward and to the left in comparison with its location in the T-54. The compartment is equipped with a single-piece hatch cover opening to the left and two periscopic vision devices. One of them can be replaced by the TVN-1 infrared vision device which is operated together with the infrared headlamp, which is mounted on the right track board. A fire-fighting equipment signal panel and a spare parts case are also located in the driver's compartment.Turret
The open-topped box-type welded turret has a ball-bearing race ring 1850 mm in diameter. The turret rear can be removed which makes replacement of the guns easier. The turret can be covered in the travelling position by a tarpaulin which has 16 plexiglass windows.To aim the guns, base data such as the target's speed, direction and range must be entered into the sighting system by the sight adjuster, who sits to the left of the guns at the rear of the turret. The target's speed and direction is determined by visual estimation, while range can also be estimated visually or with the rangefinder. The upper front of the turret has two small ports with armoured covers meant for collimator
Collimator
A collimator is a device that narrows a beam of particles or waves. To "narrow" can mean either to cause the directions of motion to become more aligned in a specific direction or to cause the spatial cross section of the beam to become smaller.- Optical collimators :In optics, a collimator may...
s of the sight.
To fire the guns, the breeches must first be opened. The left and right loaders, located in the forward part of the turret on both sides of the main armament, load clips into the magazines of their respective weapons. The loaders' travel seats should be stowed in clamps on the turret sides before opening fire. The gunner, seated on the left hand side in the middle of the turret, aims the gun and opens fire using an electric trigger, common to all barrels, or a pedal, which is individual for each barrel. If manual mechanical drive is used instead of electrohydraulic drive, three crew members instead of two should work with the sight. The commander, who sits on the right hand side in the middle of the turret, aims the gun in azimuth, the gunner aims the gun in elevation and the sight adjuster enters data into the sight. The loaders feed clips into the twin autocannon manually as needed.
Armament
The twin S-68s are recoil-operated and weigh 4,500 kg. Their construction was based on two 57 mm S-60 AA autocannons57 mm AZP S-60
57 mm AZP S-60 ; literally: Automatic anti-aircraft gun S-60) is a Soviet towed, road-transportable, short- to medium-range, single-barrel anti-aircraft gun from the 1950s. The gun was extensively used in Warsaw Pact, Middle Eastern and South-East Asian countries.-History:In the late 1940s, the...
. The guns have a recoil of between 325 and 370 mm. The individual weapons cannot be swapped from one side to the other as they are mirror images. Each air-cooled gun barrel is 4.365 m long (76.6 bores) and is fitted with a muzzle brake. They can be elevated or depressed between −5° and +85° at a speed of between 0.3° and 20° per second, the turret can traverse 360° at a speed of between 0.2° and 36° per second. Drive is from a direct current electric motor and universal hydraulic speed gears (a manual mechanical drive is also provided in case of electrohydraulic failure; with the use of mechanical drive, elevation speed is 4.5° per second and the turret traverse speed is 4° per second).
The guns are capable of firing up to 210–240 fragmentation and armour-piercing tracer rounds per minute, with a practical rate of fire of between 100 and 140 rounds per minute. Muzzle velocity is 1,000 m/s. Each clip has 4 rounds, each of which weighs 6.6 kg; the charge in each round consists of 1.2 kg of 11/7 nitro-cellulose powder, a projectile weighs 2.8 kg. Maximum horizontal range is 12 km (with an effective range against ground targets of up to 4 km / 2.5 miles. Maximum vertical range is 8.8 km with a maximum effective vertical range of 4.5 km / 14,750 ft). Fragmentation rounds have a safety-destructor which activates between 12 and 16 seconds after being fired so the maximum slant range of anti-aircraft fire is 6.5–7 km. BR-281 armour-piercing rounds are able to penetrate 110 mm armour at 500 m or 70 mm armour at 2,000 m (at 90° impact angle).
The S-68 autocannon was the most powerful AA gun installed on SPAAGs at that time. According to the statistical data of the Air Defence Research Institute No. 2, a direct hit of a single 57 mm shell could destroy a contemporary jet aircraft. In order to shoot down a jet bomber of the Canberra
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a first-generation jet-powered light bomber manufactured in large numbers through the 1950s. The Canberra could fly at a higher altitude than any other bomber through the 1950s and set a world altitude record of 70,310 ft in 1957...
type, an average of 1.7 hits were deemed necessary.
The vehicle carries 300 rounds, and the ammunition is stowed as follows: 176 rounds in clips inside the turret, 72 rounds in clips in the hull front, and 52 separate (unclipped) rounds in special compartments under the turret floor. Armour-piercing rounds in clips are placed in the rear part of the turret to the left and right of the guns. Empty shell cases and clips are removed via a conveyor belt through a special port in the turret rear into an external metal wire basket on the back of the turret.
Armour protection
The ZSU-57-2's armour is welded rolled steel sufficient to protect the vehicle from 7.62 mm armour-piercing bullets at 250 meters.Armour thickness is as follows:
- Hull front: (upper) – 13.5 mm; (lower) – 15 mm; at 60 degrees upper
- Hull sides: (upper) – 15 mm; (lower) – 13.5 mm
- Hull rear: 8 – 10.6 mm at 45 degrees
- Hull roof: 15 mm
- Hull bottom: 13.5 mm
- Turret sides: 13.5 mm
- Gun mantlet: 15 mm
- Turret roof: open
Maneuverability
The ZSU-57-2 has a maximum road speed of 50 kilometres per hour, which is reduced to around 30 km/h off-road. The vehicle has better acceleration compared with the T-54 because of its better power-to-weight ratio (18.6 hp per tonne). It has an operational range of 420 km on roads and 320 km across country. The vehicle can cross 0.8 m high vertical obstacles, 2.7 m wide trenches, ford 1.4 m deep water obstacles and climb 30° gradients.The ZSU-57-2 uses the same engine as the T-54. It is a V-54 12-cylinder four-stroke V-shaped 38.88 litre water-cooled diesel which develops 520 hp (388 kW) at 2,000 rpm. The engine itself weighs 895 kg. Fuel capacity is 830 litres carried in three fuel tanks inside the hull (640 l total) and two external fuel tanks on the right fender each of 95 l; fuel capacity was increased in comparison with the T-54. External rear-mounted supplemental fuel tanks can increase the road range to 595 km.
The mechanical transmission in the rear part of the hull consists of a change gear quadrant, a multiplate main clutch of metallic contact, a manual gearbox with five forward gears, two multiplate planetary steering clutches with band brakes and two in-line final drive groups.
The chassis has four twin rubber-tyred road wheels with individual torsion bar suspension, a rear drive sprocket with detachable sprocket rings (lantern-wheel gear) and an idler wheel on each side. The first and last road wheels each have a hydraulic rotary shock absorber. The track is 12.33 m long, 580 mm wide and has 90 links; despite having four road wheels instead of five the ground contact area of the track is the same as the T-54 (3.84 m). Track center distance is 2.64 m The vehicle has a ground pressure of 0,63 kg/cm².
Other equipment
The ZSU-57-2's electrical power unit partially differs from the T-54, in that it consists of a more powerful G-74 direct current generator which develops 3 kW (108 A at 27–29 V) at 2100 rpm and six 24 volt 6-STEN-140M or 6-MST-140 accumulator batteries (total battery capacity is 420 A-h), the batteries are used for starting the engine and an electrical power supply when the generator is shut down.The ZSU-57-2 is equipped with an automatic anti-aircraft sight of the plotter type with two collimators which can supervise a target with a speed of up to 350 m/s, a dive angle of between 0° and 90° and a slant range of up to 5,500 m; a simple mechanical sight is provided in case of failure. There is also an optical sight for direct fire at ground targets.
The 10RT-26E portable radio transceiver
Transceiver
A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined and share common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is common between transmit and receive functions, the device is a transmitter-receiver. The term originated in the early 1920s...
is located on the right hand side of the turret interior. It has a range of 9 to 20 km when the vehicle is stationary, and from 7 to 15 km when the vehicle is on the move. It was later replaced by R-113 or R-113 radio transceivers. The TPU-4-47 intercom system was later replaced by R-120 or R-124 intercom systems.
Small arms for the crew members include two AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifles and a 26 mm signalling pistol.
Weaknesses
The main weakness of the ZSU-57-2 was the lack of a search or fire-control radar; the vehicle was equipped with an optical mechanical computing reflex sight as the sole fire control system, so it could engage visible targets only. Night firing was also impractical. Also, the manual gunlaying and manual clip loading was not good enough, the rate of fire is not high enough, particularly considering that air-cooled barrels require quite long pauses for cooling at high rates of fire and the turret traverse is not fast enough to effectively intercept high-speed attack jet aircraft at low altitudes. The vehicle cannot perform aimed fire on the move.Although the ZSU-57-2 had the highest firepower among production SPAAGs of its time, the anti-aircraft fire efficiency of a battery of four vehicles was even lower than that of a battery of six towed 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft guns controlled by the PUAZO-6 anti-aircraft artillery director with the SON-9 fire control radar or later by the RPK-1 Vaza radar. It became obvious that the hit probability on a jet aircraft of the era was very low using only determination of target speed by aircraft type and determination of distance to the target by eye or by rangefinder; the ZSU-57-2 was designed to defend tank units against NATO attack aircraft flying at subsonic speeds, but it entered service ten years too late. Aircraft technology had improved to the point that a SPAAG required a much higher rate of fire, turret traverse speeds of 50–100° per second and a fully automatic radar-controlled fire control system. Works No. 174 started a modernization programme for the ZSU-57-2 in parallel with the beginning of its serial production in 1957, but this programme was rejected due to the development of new radar-guided SPAAGs armed with small-bore autocannons and another tracked chassis.
The ZSU-57-2 still retained some of the features of its predecessor, the ZSU-37. One of them was the lack of an armoured roof on the turret. The advantages of an open turret for SPAAGs, such as very high elevation angle for AA autocannons, excellent visibility of the combat situation by the gunners and no need for induced ventilation of the fighting compartment during intense fire were significantly over-shadowed by the disadvantages. The open turret of the ZSU-57-2 made it vulnerable from above, and prevented operations under NBC conditions. This flaw was partially nullified in modified Bosnian Serb ZSU-57-2s which had improvised overhead armour protection.
Nevertheless, its Western counterparts that were operationally available in the 1950s, such as the US M19 GMC (based on the M24 Chaffee
M24 Chaffee
The Light Tank M24 was an American light tank used during World War II and in postwar conflicts including the Korean War and with the French in the War in Algeria and First Indochina War. In British service it was given the service name Chaffee, after the United States Army General Adna R...
light tank) and the M42 Duster
M42 Duster
The M42 40 mm Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun, or "Duster," is an armored light air-defense gun built for the U.S. Army from 1952 until December 1959. Production of this vehicle was performed by the tank division of the General Motors Corporation. It used components from the M41 light tank...
SPAAGs (both armed with the famous 40 mm Bofors M2A1 twin AA gun
Bofors 40 mm gun
The Bofors 40 mm gun is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors Defence...
) and the British Crusader AA
Crusader tank
The Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI or A15 Crusader was one of the primary British cruiser tanks of the early part Second World War and perhaps the most important British tank of the North African Campaign...
SPAAG which was armed with a single 40 mm Bofors AA gun, had similar problems and were armed with less powerful weapons. The M42 Duster was modernized and equipped with a T50 radar system in 1956 (production of the ZSU-57-2 had not started at this point).
Production history
Although the vehicle entered service in 1955 and in the same year the No. 174 Works located in OmskOmsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
began producing the hulls and turrets, the first vehicles were completed in 1957 after the first 249 57 mm twin S-68 guns were produced by the Artillery Works No. 946 located in Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...
. A total of 5,300 of these weapons were produced by the end of the 1950s. The hulls and turrets were produced by No. 174 Works where the final assembly also took place while the Krasnoyarsk Works, belonging to the Ministry of Heavy Engineering, participated in some production stages. The ZSU-57-2 remained in production until 1960 when the No. 174 Works stopped producing the hulls and turrets for ZSU-57-2. More than 2,023 ZSU-57-2s were produced in Soviet Union.
250 ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs based on the Chinese Type 59
Type 59
The Type 59 main battle tank is a Chinese produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, an improvement over the ubiquitous T-54/55. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and it was accepted into service in 1959, with serial production beginning in 1963...
(a copy of the Soviet T-54A) tank chassis were produced under license in North Korea. The turrets were bought from the USSR and delivered between 1968 and 1977. Since the production of the ZSU-57-2 turrets ended in 1960 the turrets that North Korea bought must have came from decommissioned Soviet ZSU-57-2s. The turrets were ordered in 1967.
Former USSR
The ZSU-57-2 officially entered service with the Soviet Army in 1955. The first vehicles began replacing BTR-40As and BTR-152As in the anti-aircraft batteries of tank regiments in 1957. It was first shown publicly during the military parade in Moscow on 7 November 1958.Initially, tank regiments had a single battery equipped with four SPAAGs, later increased to two batteries, each equipped with four SPAAGs. The vehicle was also used by some motor rifle regiments (which in the 1960s had one battery equipped with four SPAAGs or, more likely, with six 23 mm ZU-23
ZU-23-2
The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23 mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for Zenitnaya Ustanovka - anti-aircraft mount.-Development history:...
towed twin AA guns). The anti-aircraft performance of the ZSU-57-2, however, was quickly found to be unsatisfactory and, because of rapid air force development, the vehicle was deemed obsolete by the early 1960s.
ZSU-57-2s were gradually replaced by radar-guided ZSU-23-4 Shilkas at the beginning of 1965. Towards the end of the 1960s, a frequent configuration was one battery of an AA battalion in a tank regiment equipped with ZSU-23-4s and another battery equipped with ZSU-57-2s. Unpopular in the Soviet Army, the ZSU-57-2 was replaced by ZSU-23-4s by the early 1970s.
Most ZSU-57-2s were put into reserve storage while a few remained in service in tank training centres (as vehicles for driver training), until the end of the 1970s. Some were converted by army workshops into bulldozers. The last ZSU-57-2s were scrapped in the 1980s, while some dismantled vehicles were used as gunnery range targets. One is preserved in the Kubinka Tank Museum
Kubinka Tank Museum
The Kubinka Tank Museum is a large museum of armoured fighting vehicles in Kubinka, just outside Moscow. It has many famous tanks from World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The museum also houses many unique vehicles, such as the Panzer VIII Maus, Troyanov super-heavy tank and a Karl-Gerät...
.
Foreign service
ZSU-57-2s were exported like other Soviet equipment. Five other Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
members—Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania—used it, as well as Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria. North Vietnam and North Korea may have received theirs without payment.
East Germany
The first foreign operator of the ZSU-57-2 was East Germany as it received its first vehicles in September 1957. From 1957 to 1961 the National People's ArmyNational People's Army
The National People’s Army were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic .The NVA was established in 1956 and disestablished in 1990. There were frequent reports of East German advisors with Communist African countries during the Cold War...
received 129 vehicles, eventually replacing them with ZSU-23-4s between 1967 and 1974. The ZSU-57-2 was completely gone from East German service by 1979. Some of the vehicles were converted into FAB 500U training vehicles for T-54 drivers and were passed on to the unified German state.
Poland
Poland received its 129 ZSU-57-2s between 1957 and 1961. They were also offered a production license for twin S-68 AA autocannons, but declined it. Eventually, Poland replaced all its ZSU-57-2s with ZSU-23-4s. Seven Polish ZSU-57-2s are preserved, one at the Lubuskie Military Museum in Drzonów, one in Wicko Morskie, the largest anti-aircraft artillery firing range in Poland, one at the Land Forces Museum in Warsaw, one at the History and Tradition of Suvalkai Soldiers Museum in Suwalszczyzna, one in KoszalinKoszalin
Koszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
and two at the Polish Army Museum
Polish Army Museum
-Newest Exhibition:The Polish Army Museum was not too long ago given the equipment of the lost soldiers from the Presidential Smolensk aircraft crash. The equipment includes the ID Passes, Portable radios, torches, holsters and much more and all in their original state.Museum of the Polish Army is...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
Other Warsaw Pact countries
Three other Warsaw Pact members, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, received ZSU-57-2s once the ZSU-23-4 was introduced in the Soviet Army. Czechoslovakia imported one ZSU-57-2 for testing but it was rejected when it was realised that the domestically produced M53/59 PragaM53/59 Praga
The M53/59 Praga is a Czechoslovak self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed in the late 1950s. It consists of a heavily modified Praga V3S 6 wheel drive truck chassis, armed with a twin 30 mm AA autocannon mounted on the rear for which the vehicle typically carries 900 rounds of ammunition, each...
was comparable to the ZSU-57-2.
Former Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1963. Deliveries were completed between 1963 and 1964. They were passed on to the successor states during the 1992 breakup of the federal state. They were then used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There were 54 of those vehicles in service as of 1999, but this number decreased to 36 in the subsequent decade; they were withdrawn from active service by 2003. However the Yugoslav military still possessed them and after the creation of Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
they were scrapped. Two vehicles captured by Croatian forces during the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
and were later also scrapped.
Slovenia
The air defence battery of the 44th "Wolfs" armoured-mechanized battalion stationed in Pivka, belonging to the 4th Regional Command Postojna operates ZSU-57-2s.Finland
Finland imported 12 ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs between 1960 and 1961 alongside other kinds of Soviet equipment. The ZSU-57-2s were designated 57 ItPsv SU 57-2, some of them remained in service to the end of the century. A ZSU-57-2M modernization programme was being developed in Finland which would equip the vehicle with radar and configurable ammunition. However, after the prototype was produced the project was abandoned because of high costs. ItPsv SU-57s were withdrawn from service in 2006.People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China was approached by Iraq in the early 1980s to develop a copy of the ZSU-57-2 system and a few examples were delivered to the PRC for reverse-engineering. To meet Iraq's production order, NORINCONorinco
The China North Industries Corporation , official English name Norinco, manufactures vehicles , machinery, optical-electronic products, oil field equipment, chemicals, light industrial products, explosives and blast materials, civil and military firearms and ammunition, etc...
attempted to manufacture a copy with the improved amphibious chassis of the Type 69-II tank. Several Type 80 SPAAGs were tested and accepted into service by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in small numbers. It was originally intended for the export market but didn't sell well. Greater success was achieved by Chinese-made proximity fuses which could be used to modernize the S-60 and S-68 ammunition.
Middle East
Iran ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1966 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1967 and 1968. Around 90 remained in service until 2002.
Egypt ordered 100 ZSU-57-2s in 1960 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1961 and 1962. ZSU-57-2s were not very successful during either the Six-Day war
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
in 1969 or the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
in 1973. Despite that, the Egyptian Army operated 40 ZSU-57-2s as of 2003 and equipped them with radars. Egypt also bought Chinese-made proximity fuzes for its S-60 and S-68 ammunition.
The Israelis captured a number of ZSU-57-2s from the Egyptians or Syrians. One was given to the Yad la-Shiryon Tank Museum
Yad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. The cornerstone for Yad La-Shiryon was laid on...
in Latrun, another was given to the Batey ha-Osef museum of the history of the Israeli Defense Forces in Tel Aviv and the third (captured in 1973) – to the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim.
Cuba
Cuba received 25 ZSU-57-2s alongside other heavy equipment from Soviet forces stationed on the island in 1963 during the Cuban Missile CrisisCuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
. They remain in service.
Combat use
While primarily an anti-aircraft weapon the ZSU-57-2 was also used in the role of ground support vehicle.Vietnam War
The ZSU-57-2 was used in combat for the first time in the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
by the Vietnam People's Army
Vietnam People's Army
The Vietnam People's Army is the armed forces of Vietnam. The VPA includes: the Vietnamese People's Ground Forces , the Vietnam People's Navy , the Vietnam People's Air Force, and the Vietnam Marine Police.During the French Indochina War , the VPA was often referred to as the Việt...
(VPA), beginning with the Easter Offensive in 1972. It also saw action during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
The Hồ Chí Minh Campaign was the final title applied to a series of increasingly large-scale and ambitious offensive operations by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam which began on 13 December 1974...
in 1975. Several batteries of ZSU-57-2s were used for the air defence of the 201st and 202nd tank regiments during the Easter Offensive of 1972. ZSU-57-2s were used by the VPA against US aircraft but it proved to be more effective against ground targets. The ZSU-57-2 was expensive to operate, which was why the Chinese developed the Type 63 SPAAG based on the T-34 tank chassis for Vietnamese troops (see People's Republic of China section in T-34 variants
T-34 variants
The T-34 medium tank is one of the most-produced and longest-lived tanks of all time.Identification of T-34 variants can be complicated. Turret castings, superficial details, and equipment differed between factories. New features were added in the middle of production runs or retrofitted to older...
). South Vietnam also used captured ZSU-57-2s. About 500 ZSU-57-2s survived the war. 200 are still in service.
Middle East
ZSU-57-2s were used during several conflicts in the Middle East including the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
in 1973, in both cases by Egypt and Syria. A battery of Egyptian ZSU-57-2s together with T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
s defended El-Arish airstrip. They were broken by a company of Israeli M48 Patton
M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is a medium tank that was designed in the United States. It was the third and final tank to be officially named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle It was a...
MBTs belonged to the 7th armoured brigade during an intense action on 6 June 1967. ZSU-57-2s were not generally successful and a number fell into Israeli hands. Syria used ZSU-57-2s during the 1982 Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
during which they engaged in a fight with the Israeli air force in the Beqaa Valley
Beqaa Valley
The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...
. The obsolete vehicles didn't stand a chance against Israeli aircraft. However the vehicles fared much better when attacking land targets.
During the Iran–Iraq War, ZSU-57-2s were used by both Iraq and Iran. Iraq also used Chinese Type 80
Type 80
Type 80 may refer to:* one of the Type 88 family of Chinese tanks* Type 80 Air-to-Ship Missile, a Japanese ASM* Type 80 , a Chinese military pistol* Type 80 machine gun, a Chinese copy of the Soviet PKM...
s during this conflict and the First Persian Gulf War. Iraqi ZSU-57-2s, which could receive information from the radar on ZSU-23-4
ZSU-23-4
The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system . ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount". The "23" signifies the bore diameter in millimeters. The "4" signifies the number of gun barrels. It...
s or 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin)/9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) surface-to-air missile systems were employed against Iranian AH-1J SeaCobra
AH-1 SuperCobra
The Bell AH-1 SuperCobra is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the US Army's AH-1 Cobra. The twin Cobra family includes the AH-1J SeaCobra, the AH-1T Improved SeaCobra, and the AH-1W SuperCobra...
attack helicopters.
On 16 January 1991, during the First Persian Gulf War, Iraqi ZSU-57-2s shot down a Tornado GR1
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
strike aircraft during an attack by four British aircraft on the Iraqi Shaibah
Shaibah
Shaibah is the name of small village and a site of a military airfield near Az Zubayr, south west of Basrah in Iraq.It was the site of RAF Shaibah from 1920 until 1956 when it was then handed over to the Iraqi Air Force....
air base. The same day in the late evening one more Tornado GR1 was shot down and three other British Tornados were badly damaged by AA fire near Shaibah. ZSU-57-2s were also used in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
Yugoslavia
ZSU-57-2s saw service during the Yugoslav Wars, usually in light batteries used by Serbs and Montenegrins of the JNA for attacking ground targets. They were used during the war of independenceCroatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
when Croatian forces captured two ZSU-57-2s from the JNA
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
. They were also used in the air defence role in 1999 during the NATO air raids against Yugoslavia when the Yugoslavs operated 54 of these vehicles.
Combat history
- 1959 – 1975 Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
- 1967 Six-Day WarSix-Day WarThe Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
- 1973 Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
- 1975 – 2002 Angolan Civil WarAngolan Civil WarThe Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
- 1979 Sino-Vietnamese WarSino-Vietnamese WarThe Sino–Vietnamese War , also known as the Third Indochina War, known in the PRC as and in Vietnam as Chiến tranh chống bành trướng Trung Hoa , was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
- 1980 – 1988 Iran–Iraq War
- 1982 Lebanon War1982 Lebanon WarThe 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
- 1990 – 1991 First Persian Gulf War
- 1991–2001 Yugoslav warsYugoslav warsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
- 1991 Ten-Day WarTen-Day WarThe Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:...
- 1991 – 1995 Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of IndependenceThe Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
- 1992 – 1995 Bosnian WarBosnian WarThe Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
- 1995 – 1996 NATO bombing of Republika SrpskaNATO bombing of Republika SrpskaThe 1995 NATO bombing in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization to undermine the military capability of the Army of the Republika Srpska which threatened and attacked UN-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia during the Bosnian war...
- 1996 – 1999 Kosovo WarKosovo WarThe term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
- 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
- 1991 Ten-Day War
- 2003 – Second Persian Gulf War
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq
Former USSR
- ZSU-57-2 prototype was based on a modified T-54 tank chassis equipped with experimental tracks. Unlike the production ZSU-57-2, the prototype weighted 26.172 tonnes, carried only 252 rounds: 172 rounds in clips inside the turret and 80 separate rounds in the nose part of the hull in a special ammunition stowage, had thinner armour (8–10 mm) and antennae mounted at the rear of the turret upper right side instead of in the middle. The first vehicle was built in June 1950, the second in December 1950.
- ZSU-57-2 improved prototype with an increased ammunition load of 300 rounds. Six were built between 1951 and 1953 for service tests.
- ZSU-57-2 – SPAAG mass-produced between 1957 and 1960.
- ZSU-57-2 armed with modernised twin S-68A autocannon. Like the original ZSU-57-2, it officially entered service with the Soviet Army in 1955.
- ZSU-57-2 converted into a bulldozer. After ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs were removed from AA units at the beginning of the 1970s, army workshops converted a number into bulldozers. The turret was replaced by a steel closed superstructure. The vehicle was equipped with the BTS-55 bulldozer blade.
- ZSU-57-2 – SPAAG mass-produced between 1957 and 1960.
- ZSU-57-2 improved prototype with an increased ammunition load of 300 rounds. Six were built between 1951 and 1953 for service tests.
The People's Republic of China
- Type 80 – Chinese SPAAG. It has the same turret as the ZSU-57-2, but it is armed with the Type 59 twin anti-aircraft autocannon (a copy of the Soviet S-68), mounted on the chassis of a Chinese Type 69-IIType 69/79The Type 69 and Type 79 are two models of Chinese main battle tanks. Both developments of the Type 59 , they were the first independently-developed main battle tanks by China. Their lineage can be seen through the distinct gap between the first and second roadwheels...
MBT. It is heavier than the ZSU-57-2 at 30 tonnes.
Finland
- ItPsv SU-57 – Finnish designation for ZSU-57-2.
- ItPsv SU-57 with a machine gun mounted on the front of the turret.
- ZSU-57-2M – Finnish ZSU-57-2 modernization which equips the vehicle with radar and configurable ammunition. Only one prototype was produced and the project was abandoned because of high costs.
East Germany
- FAB 500U ("FAB" stands for Fahrausbildungspanzer) – ZSU-57-2 converted into a training vehicle for T-54 drivers.
North Korea
- ZSU-57-2 with the turret mounted on the Chinese Type 59Type 59The Type 59 main battle tank is a Chinese produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, an improvement over the ubiquitous T-54/55. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and it was accepted into service in 1959, with serial production beginning in 1963...
(a copy of the T-54A) tank chassis. Produced and operated by North Korea.
Republika Srpska
- ZSU-57-2 fitted with improvised overhead armour to protect the gun compartment from attacks from above, as well as rain and snow. It also has an ammunition crate fitted to the glacis plate which serves as additional passive armour. Used mainly as a self-propelled gun.
Operators
- - 45 ordered in 1974 and delivered between 1975 and 1976 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). - 40 ordered in 1975 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1975 and 1976 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). All 40 ZSU-57-2s are currently in service. - 100 ordered in 1965 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1965 and 1966; the vehicles were previously in Soviet service. Dozens are currently in service. - – Received a few from Iraq for reverse-engineering. The PRC operates small numbers of Type 80 SPAAGs. - Received 25 ZSU-57-2s stationed on the island ordered in 1963 from Soviet Union (the vehicles were previously up to few years in Soviet service). – 100 ordered in 1960 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1961 and 1962. 40 remain in service. – Received a number from Ethiopia. - 10 ordered in 1977 from Soviet Union and delivered in 1978 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). - 40 ordered in 1965 and delivered in 1966 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). - – 250 ZSU-57-2 turrets ordered in 1967 and delivered between 1968 and 1977 (the turrets were previously mounted on Soviet ZSU-57-2s). They were fitted in North Korea onto Type 59 hulls. All vehicles remained in service as of 2000. - 20 ordered in 1982 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1983 and 1984 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). – - - 250 ordered in 1966 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1967 and 1973. 10 in service as of 2005. – At peak there were 500 ZSU-57-2s in service with the Vietnamese army. Currently 200 are in service.Former operators
- 12 ordered from Soviet Union in 1960 and delivered between 1960 and 1961. withdrawn from service in 2006. – 129 ordered in 1957 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1957 and 1961. Replaced by ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" SPAAGs between 1967 and 1974. It was completely removed from East German service in 1979. Some were converted into the FAB 500U driver training vehicle. They were passed on to the unified German state. – FAB 500U taken from East Germany's Army. All were sold to other countries or scrapped. - 100 ZSU-57-2s ordered in 1966 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1967 and 1968 (the vehicles were previously up to few years in Soviet service). Around 90 remained in service until 2002. – 100 ZSU-57-2s ordered in 1970 from Soviet Union and they were delivered between 1971 and 1973 (the vehicles were previously up to few years in Soviet service). A few were given to the PRC for reverse-engineering. Iraq also operated a number of Chinese built Type 80s. All ZSU-57-2s and Type 80s were destroyed or scrapped prior to 2003. – Captured a number of ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs from the Egyptians or the Syrians. One was given to the Yad la-Shiryon MuseumYad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. The cornerstone for Yad La-Shiryon was laid on...
, another was given to the Batey ha-Osef museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. – 129 ZSU-57-2s ordered in 1957 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1957 and 1961. Replaced by the ZSU-23-4 "Sziłka"
ZSU-23-4
The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system . ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount". The "23" signifies the bore diameter in millimeters. The "4" signifies the number of gun barrels. It...
. – 25 in 2002 - 60 ordered in 1965 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1965 and 1966 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). Phased out in the 1990s and replaced with Gepard SPAAGs. - – Replaced with the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka"
ZSU-23-4
The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system . ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount". The "23" signifies the bore diameter in millimeters. The "4" signifies the number of gun barrels. It...
at the beginning of the 1970s; training units used the ZSU-57-2 at least until the end of the 1970s. - 500 including 100 ordered in 1971 from Soviet Union and delivered between 1971 and 1972 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). Passed on to the successor state. – A number captured from the VPA. – 100 delivered between 1963 and 1964.
See also
- ZSU-37ZSU-37ZSU-37 was a Soviet-made, light, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun , developed by the end of 1943 and produced at Works No. 40 in Mytishchi. It was the first Soviet series-produced tracked SPAAG...
– The predecessor of the ZSU-57-2 - ZSU-23-4 ShilkaZSU-23-4The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored, self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system . ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka , meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount". The "23" signifies the bore diameter in millimeters. The "4" signifies the number of gun barrels. It...
– The successor of the ZSU-57-2 - M42 DusterM42 DusterThe M42 40 mm Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun, or "Duster," is an armored light air-defense gun built for the U.S. Army from 1952 until December 1959. Production of this vehicle was performed by the tank division of the General Motors Corporation. It used components from the M41 light tank...
– Comparable US SPAAG - Type 63 – a Chinese SPAAG similar to ZSU-57-2.