ZSU-57-2

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ZSU-57-2
ZSU-57-2 in Yad la-Shiryon museum, Israel.
General characteristics
Crew	6
Length	6.22 m
Width	3.27 m
Height	2.75 m
Weight	28 t
Armour and armament
Armour	15 mm
Main armament	2 x 57 mm L/69 S-60 autocannons 316 rounds
Secondary armament
Mobility
Power plant	Model V-54, V-12 water cooled diesel 520 hp (388 kW)
Suspension	torsion bar
Road speed	50 km/h
Power/weight	18.6 hp/tonne
Range	420 km

The ZSU-57-2 was a lightly armoured, self propelled Soviet air defence cannon (SPAAG) armed with two 57 mm autocannons. ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka - anti-aircraft self-propelled system.

[edit] History

The vehicle entered service in 1955 and remained in production until 1960. The vehicle carried a S-68 cannon (developed by V. G. Grabin's team in the NII-58; consists of two 57 mm L/69 S-60 autocannons) in a large open-topped turret mounted on a modified T-54 tank chassis. The guns elevated from -5° to +85° at 20° per second, and the turret could traverse 360 degrees, at 30° per second.

The cannon was capable of firing up to 120 FRAG-T (Fragmentation-Tracer) or APC-T (Armour-Piercing Capped-Tracer) rounds per minute from each barrel, with a sustained rate of fire of around 70 rounds per minute per barrel. Maximum horizontal range reached 12,000 m (with maximum effective range is around 4 km / 2.5 mi) and maximum altitude 8,000 m (maximum effective altitude around 4250 m / 14,000 ft). 316 rounds of ammunition were carried in the vehicle. Empty shell casings and clips were emptied into a metal basket on the back of the turret via a conveyor. The fire-control system was purely optical (no radar).

The ZSU-57-2 saw action for the first time in the Vietnam War. Iran used its ZSU-57-2s in the Iran-Iraq War. Like many other anti-aircraft cannons, it was often used against ground targets. The anti-aircraft performance of the ZSU-57-2, however, was quickly found to be unsatisfactory. Its fire controls were not good enough, the rate of fire not high enough and the turret traverse not fast enough to effectively intercept jet aircraft at low altitudes (it must be noted that its main western competitor, the M42 Duster armed with the famous Bofors 40 mm gun, had similar problems). Eventually the ZSU-57-2 was replaced with the ZSU-23-4 Shilka, which had a radar and was armed with smaller caliber, faster-firing 23 mm cannons.

[edit] Operators

A ZSU-57-2 SPAAG. Photo by GulfLINK.

The vehicle was sold or given to:

(*)Chinese Type 80 air defense tank has the same turret as the ZSU-57-2 mounted on a different amphibious chassis.
(**) North Korea developed a ZSU-57-2 variant based on the Chinese Type 59 tank chassis.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

ZSU-57-2

Soviet and post-Soviet armoured fighting vehicles after World War II

Tanks

IS-3 · IS-4 · T-10 · T-54 · T-55 · PT-76 · T-62 · T-64 · T-72 · T-80
Russian: T-90 · Black Eagle · T-95	Ukrainian: T-72MP · T-80UD · T-84

Armoured personnel carriers

Tracked
BTR-50 · MT-LB · BMP-1 · BMD-1 · BMP-2 · BMP-3 · BTR-T · BMP-T · ASU-57 · ASU-85
Wheeled
BTR-152 · BTR-40 · BRDM-1 · BRDM-2 · BTR-60 · BTR-70 · BTR-80
Russian: BTR-90	Ukrainian: BTR-4 · BTR-94

Self-propelled artillery

Multiple rocket launchers
2S1 Gvozdika · 2S3 Akatsiya · 2S4 Tyulpan · 2S5 Giatsint-S · 2S7 Pion · 2S9 Nona · 2S19 Msta · 2S23 Nona-SVK
BM-14 · BM-21 Grad · BM-24 · BM-25 · BM-27 Uragan
Russian: BM-30 Smerch
Surface-to-surface missiles
FROG-7 · 9K79 Tochka (SS-21 Scarab) · R-400 Oka (SS-23 Spider
Russian: Iskander(SS-26 Stone)

Air defense vehicles

Gun
ZSU-57-2 · ZSU-23-4 · Tunguska-M1
Missile
2K11 Krug (SA-4 Ganef) · 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko) · 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin) · 9K37 Buk (SA-11 Gadfly) · 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) · 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) · 9K330 Tor (SA-15 Gauntlet) · S-300 (SA-10 Grumble)
Russian: Pantsyr-S1 · 9K38 Buk-M1-2 (SA-17 Grizzly)