Probably, it was somewhat incorrect to lay out the ZSU-57-2 earlier than the C-60, but that's how it turned out. Meanwhile, the S-60 is still the beginning, and the ZSU-57 is the end of the story. Well, let the author be forgiven.
So, the progress of all military equipment during the Second World War set in motion the design mechanisms of all countries. And first of all, those who were responsible for air defense. I think few people will argue that it was aviation that made not just a step forward, it was a leap forward. Having started the war with biplanes, some of the participating countries ended the war with actually ready-made jet aircraft. And the Germans and Japanese in general even managed to use them.
The headache for air defense became more and more real.
After all, in order to shoot down a target flying quickly at an altitude with artillery anti-aircraft fire, it is required to saturate the sky in front of it with a large number of shells. Maybe at least one will hook. Normal practice at the time. This means that anti-aircraft guns of medium and small caliber. At high altitude, everything is somewhat different, there, on the contrary, large-caliber anti-aircraft guns were deployed there, the shells of which gave a large number of fragments.
But now we are not talking about them.
During the Second World War, the belligerent countries were armed with small-caliber automatic cannons with magazine-fed caliber up to 40 mm. Enough with interest. After the war, when both the height and the speed of the aircraft grew, and even the armor appeared, it became clear that something needed to be changed.
This was well understood in the USSR as well.
The task that the designers received was "with a secret." The new cannon was supposed to be able to inflict damage in the air on a well-armored and fast bomber (the model was taken from the B-29 at its disposal) and on the ground - on a medium tank. The Sherman was adopted as a model of the tank. Everything is clear, everything is available.
Since we are talking about tanks, it should not be surprising that the competition between the three design bureaus was won by the seasoned designers of the Grabin Design Bureau. Just by working on the ideas of the 57mm anti-tank gun, the history of which is known. I pierced everything.
And TsAKB under the leadership of Vasily Grabin soon presented the project of Lev Loktev. The theoretical calculations were made by Mikhail Loginov.
Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin
Mikhail Nikolaevich Loginov
Lev Abramovich Loktev
In 1946, the gun was presented to the state commission, then there was a period of treatment of childhood diseases and improvements, and in 1950, under the designation "57-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun AZP-57", the gun was put into service. Serial production was carried out at plant No. 4 in Krasnoyarsk.
The new gun was supposed to replace the 37-mm 61-K anti-aircraft gun, which was a rather unsuccessful design, and was physically and morally outdated, and did not meet the requirements of modern small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery.
The S-60 complex, which included the 57-mm AZP-57 anti-aircraft gun, included the anti-aircraft gun itself, mounted on a towed platform and an automatic and semi-automatic fire control system.
In general, it was not a bad breakthrough.
The S-60 was "lucky", almost immediately the complex underwent combat testing during the Korean War. Significant shortcomings of the ammunition supply system were identified, which were urgently corrected, fortunately, they had not yet forgotten how to work in a military manner. There were no complaints about guidance systems.
This is how the military service of the S-60 began.
The complex, that is, "entered". It was supplied to our "allies" in the Department of Internal Affairs, bought by those who could pay, and given to African followers of communist ideas just like that.
Out of more than 5 thousand produced S-60s, the lion's share went abroad. And in some countries it is still in service.
Naturally, the S-60 cannons took part in all imaginable and inconceivable conflicts of the second half of the 20th century in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Automation AZP-57 is based on recoil with a short stroke of the barrel. Piston lock, sliding, return due to hydraulic and spring shock absorbers. Ammunition supply from the store for 4 rounds.
The barrel with a length of 4850 mm was equipped with a single-chamber muzzle brake of a reactive type to reduce the recoil power. Air cooling, when the barrel heats up over 400 degrees Celsius, forced cooling, the equipment for which is included in the spare parts for the gun.
There was a naval version of the gun, the AK-725. It was distinguished by the presence of forced water cooling using seawater.
For transportation of the S-60 complex, a four-wheel platform with torsion shock absorption is provided. For the chassis, wheels of the ZIS-5 type are used, with tires filled with sponge rubber. The platform towing speed is 25 km / h on the ground, up to 60 km / h on the highway.
An army truck (6x6) or an artillery tractor is used for towing.
The weight of the complex is about 4.8 tons in the stowed position. The transfer of the system from the combat position to the stowed position, according to the standards, takes 2 minutes.
For aiming the AZP-57 complex, a vector semi-automatic sight is used. The aiming of the guns included in the anti-aircraft complex was carried out by several methods:
- automatically, using information from PUAZO;
- in semi-automatic mode, in this case information from the ESP-57 sight is used;
- indicator, manually.
For the normal functioning of the S-60 complex, it was required to bring a battery of 6-8 guns into a single system with a closure to PUAZO (anti-aircraft fire control device) or SON-9 (gun guidance station). The calculation of the gun is 6-8 people.
[center] Tubular frame for tarpaulin canopy. The canopy protected the gunners from the sun and, at the same time, from debris, which inevitably fell from the sky when firing at high elevation angles.
Tribute to modernity: electro-hydraulic drive
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And here, in principle, the sunset of the towed memory began. With excellent ballistic characteristics, the S-60 could not protect troops on the march. And, as we have already concluded in the article about the ZSU-57, a convoy on the march without air defense is a gift to the enemy. And to transfer the system to combat mode, it took time to deploy guns, deploy a control system and deliver ammunition.
While the inferior artillery systems of a potential enemy were initially located on a self-propelled chassis, which significantly accelerated the time of their combat deployment. This ultimately led to the decommissioning and transfer of the S-60 to the reserve.
This is not to say that the ZSU-57 became a panacea, or that the enemy's complexes were better, no. The "probable" had it all the same. The dimensions of the electronics of those years did not allow assembling everything on one chassis, so everyone had a choice: mobile, but "oblique" self-propelled ZSU, or precise charger with automatic guidance, but with a long deployment time.
The first won. And there "Shilka" arrived in time.
The range of application of the gun in depth was up to 6 km, with an armor-piercing or fragmentation projectile, this was a fairly effective means of destroying light armored vehicles and enemy manpower.
The mass of the 57-mm projectile is about 2, 8 kg, the technical rate of fire is about 60-70 rounds per minute.
In general, the gun worked … however, when did Grabin fail to produce guns?
Interestingly, today the relevance of the AZP-57 is still there. There is more and more talk about the fact that the 30-mm caliber on lightly armored vehicles such as armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles begins to fail to cope with their tasks. And we must go further, towards the 45-mm.
Meanwhile, in the 90s of the last century, an attempt was made to modernize this remarkable weapon. An uninhabited module was developed for installation on AU220M armored vehicles, but this module is not currently adopted for service, since the military considered that 30-mm automatic cannons were enough for their purposes on the BMP.
Enough for now, note. It is possible to predict what will happen when heavy infantry fighting vehicles and BMPTs, weighing 40 tons and with armor, which a 30-mm projectile will not take, nevertheless enter the scene.
When an old corn hurts, they remember the old boot. This means that for AZP-57 everything is not finished yet and it is too early for scrap. And the module may well come in handy.
After all, you don't even have to invent anything new. Are there not enough clips for 4-5 shells? But a tape feed system was developed for the AK-725.
The new is sometimes just the well-forgotten old.
