Azp S 60
Azp S 60
Azp S 60
Autocannon
Place of origin
Soviet Union
Service history
In service
Used by
Wars
1950present
See users
Vietnam War
Cambodian Civil War
CambodianVietnamese
War
IranIraq War
Gulf War
Iraq War
numerous others
Specifications
Weight
Length
Width
2.054 m (6 ft 9 in)
Height
2.37 m (7 ft 9 in)
Crew
Shell
57348 mm. SR
Calibre
57 mm (2.24 in)
Rate of fire
Muzzle velocity
Effective firing rang
e
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Operational history
3 Ammunition types
4 Versions
5 Operators
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]
In the late 1940s, the Soviets started to develop a 57 mm anti-aircraft gun, to replace its
37 mm guns. Three different models were presented, and the winning design was made
by V. G. Grabin. According to western intelligence sources, the German prototype gun
5,5 cm Gert 58 formed the basis for the design. The Soviets were also able to study
German 5 cm Flak 41 guns that had been captured following the Battle of Stalingrad.
The prototype passed the field tests in 1946 and was accepted into service in 1950, after
some minor modifications. The anti-aircraft gun was given the name 57 mm AZP S-60.
Grabin continued the development and fielded the SPAAG version ZSU-57-2 in 1955.
The fire direction device was developed from the German Lambda calculator
(Kommandogert 40, 40A, and 40B) and was called PUAZO-5A. It had also a distance
measuring device called D-49. The fire direction was also made more effective by
including Grom-2 (10 cm wavelength) radars to the AA-batteries. The whole system
was called SON-9. Later on, the calculators would be changed into the more modern
RPK-1 Vaza, which had been designed by M. M. Kositskin. The calculator and the
radars were transported by Ural 375 trucks.
The 57 mm gun replaced the 37 mm divisional guns in Soviet service in the 1950s. A
divisional anti-aircraft regiment consisted of two AA-batteries with six 57 mm guns
each. The PVO air-defence troops AA-regiments consisted of four 57 mm AA-batteries
(24 guns).
In the mid-1960s, the Soviet divisional anti-aircraft units began replacing their AA-guns
with missiles, and by the end of the 1970s, the AA-guns had almost disappeared.
However, they were used in many other countries. The performance of AAA in Vietnam
against low-flying aircraft led the Soviets to bring back many guns from storage to
supplement the Surface-to-Air Missiles, whose performance at low altitude was less
than satisfactory.
Operational history[edit]
The S-60 and its Chinese copy (the Type 59) have seen combat in several wars all over
the World, e.g. the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East and the
Soviet war in Afghanistan. During the Vietnam War, the S-60 was the keystone of North
Vietnamese low-altitude air defense and was most effective between 460 meters and
1,500 meters.
In Iraq (IranIraq War, Gulf War and Iraq War), the S-60, normally deployed in
battalions of 36 guns, served consistently in defense of divisional headquarters and field
artillery assets.
Syrian S-60 guns were actively used during the Syrian Civil War by both the army and
different rebel groups. As many other guns originally designed for antiaircraft use, most
of the time they were used in shelling ground targets.[1]
Ammunition types[edit]
The S-60 fires ammunition in 57x348SR caliber, a cartridge noticeably weaker than the
57mm ammunition of either Bofors 57mm AA gun, or Soviet 57 anti-tank guns of
World War II. Modern anti-aircraft rounds have not been developed for the gun - the
main characteristics of the Soviet-era ammunition is listed in the table below. In
Type
Projectile Bursting
Weight [g] charge [g]
Muzzle
Velocity
[m/s]
13 [2]
1000 [2]
UOR-281
HE-T
2850 [2]
154 [2]
1000 [2]
UOR-281U
HE-T
2850 [2]
154 [2]
168 [3]
1000 [2]
Type 59 AP
AP-T
Type 59 HE
HE-T
Description
Type 76 HE
HE-T
281/281U.
Chinese fragmentation
round.
Versions[edit]
AK-725: Naval version of the S-60 gun. Introduced in 1958. Mounted in single,
double and quadruple mounts (designated ZIF-31) on many early Soviet
destroyers.
ZIF-72: Naval version which is enclosed in a metal housing and fully automatic.
Also exported to India. Introduced in the mid-1970s.
Operators[edit]
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria: 70 units
Angola
Armenia
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Belarus
Cambodia
Czech Republic
Ethiopia
Georgia: 60 units
Guinea: 12 units
Guinea-Bissau: 10 units
India
Iran
Iraq
Kyrgyzstan: 24 units
Laos
Libya: 90 units
Mali: 6 units
Morocco
Mauritania: 2 units
Moldova: 12 units
Mozambique
Mongolia
Nicaragua
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Somalia
Slovakia
Thailand: 24 units
Turkmenistan: 22 units
Vietnam
Yugoslavia: retired
References[edit]
1.
2.
3.
Jump up ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovUCOzzAZg
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Russian Ammunition Page,
http://www.russianammo.org
^ Jump up to: a b c "Jane's Ammunition Handbook, 1994
Koll, Christian (2009). Soviet Cannon - A Comprehensive Study of Soviet Arms and
Ammunition in Calibres 12.7mm to 57mm. Austria: Koll. p. 467. ISBN 978-3-20001445-9.
External links[edit]