PZA Loara

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PZA Loara

Type	Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	Poland
Specifications
Weight	45 tonnes
Length	6.67 m
Width	3.4 m
Height	2.19 m
Crew	3 (commander, driver, gunner)

Armor	conventional steel
Primary armament	2 × 35 mm
Secondary armament	none
Engine	diesel S-1000 1000 hp
Power/weight	20 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion bar
Operational range	650 km
Speed	60 km/h

The PZA LOARA (Polish Przeciwlotniczy Zestaw Artyleryjski = anti-aircraft artillery system) is a Polish armoured radar directed self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system.

[edit] Description

The system was developed by Poland in the late 1990s. Based around the chassis of the PT-91 "Twardy" tank, system mounts an armoured turret holding two Oerlikon KDA 35 mm cannons linked to a radar based fire control system. It was planned that it would work closly together with PZR LOARA (anti-aircraft missile system) vehicles built on the basis of the PZA LOARA but that project was cancelled.

The Loara is an autonomous fire unit capable of performing its tasks independently or acting as a component of a wider air defence system. The system has two radars, a 3D search radar and an engagement radar. The search radar has a range of 26 km and is capable of tracking and identifying up to 64 targets at once. The radar system can also be operated on the move, refreshing its data every second. The system also has a laser range-finder, TV and FLIR cameras giving the system both all-weather day/night capabilities and the ability to operate entirely passively in a heavy ECM environment. The system also has a reaction time under 10 seconds.

The system can engage aircraft flying at altitudes from very low altitudes up to 5000 m, and flying at speeds up to 500 m/s. It is also effective against lightly armoured ground and naval targets.

Currently the only user of this system is the Polish army which ordered a small number of these anti-aircraft artillery systems.