Creation of "Shilka"
The closed pages of the history of our company are gradually beginning to open up. It became possible to speak and write about things that previously had the stamp of state secrets. Today we want to tell the story of the creation of the sighting system of the legendary self-propelled anti-aircraft gun "Shilka", which was put into service exactly 40 years ago (this year is rich in anniversaries!). Before you is a small essay written by two veterans of our company who took part in the creation of the world famous self-propelled gun - Lydia Rostovikova and Elizaveta Spitsina.
With the development of the air fleet, specialists were faced with the task of creating means of protecting ground forces from enemy air raids. During the First World War, in a number of European states, including Russia, anti-aircraft guns were adopted, which, as technology developed, were constantly improved. Whole anti-aircraft artillery systems were created.
Subsequently, it was recognized that artillery on mobile self-propelled chassis would most successfully cope with the tasks of protecting troops on the march from enemy aircraft. The results of the Second World War made it possible to conclude that traditional anti-aircraft guns are quite effective in the fight against aircraft flying at medium and high altitudes, but unsuitable for firing at low-flying targets with high speed, since in this case the aircraft instantly leaves the range of fire … In addition, the explosions of shells from large-caliber guns (for example, 76 mm and 85 mm) at low altitudes can cause significant damage to their own troops.
With an increase in the survivability and speed of aircraft, the effectiveness of automatic small-caliber anti-aircraft guns - 25 and 37 mm - also decreased. In addition, due to the increase in the speed of air targets, the consumption of shells per shot down increased several times.
As a result, the opinion was formed that in order to combat low-flying targets, it is most expedient to create a setup with a small-caliber automatic cannon and a high rate of fire. This should allow high accuracy of fire with accurate guidance during those very short periods of time when the aircraft is in the affected area. Such an installation should quickly change the pickup in order to track a target moving at high angular velocities. Most of all, a multi-barreled installation was suitable for this, having a mass of a second salvo much greater than a single-barreled gun, mounted on a self-propelled chassis.
In 1955, the design bureau of the enterprise, p / box 825 (that was the name of the plant "Progress", which later became part of LOMO), led by the head of the design bureau, Viktor Ernestovich Pikkel, was given a technical assignment for the research work "Topaz". Based on the results of this development, the question of the possibility of creating an automatic all-weather gun mount on a self-propelled chassis for firing at air targets was to be resolved, which would ensure high efficiency of hitting low-flying air targets at speeds up to 400 m / s.
V. E. Pickel
In the process of performing this work, the OKB team of p / box 825 under the leadership of the chief designer V. E. Pickel and Deputy Chief Designer V. B. Perepelovsky, a number of problems were solved in order to ensure the effectiveness of the developed gun mount. In particular, the choice of the chassis was made, the type of anti-aircraft gun, the maximum weight of the fire control equipment installed on the chassis, the type of targets served by the installation, as well as the principle of ensuring its all-weather condition were determined. This was followed by the choice of contractors and element base.
During the design studies carried out under the leadership of the Stalin Prize laureate leading designer L. M. Braudze, the most optimal placement of all elements of the sighting system was determined: radar antennas, anti-aircraft gun barrels, antenna pointing drives, stabilization elements on one rotating base. At the same time, the issue of decoupling the sighting and gun line of the installation was quite ingeniously resolved.
The main authors and ideologists of the project were V. E. Pickel, V. B. Perepelovsky, V. A. Kuzmichev, A. D. Zabezhinsky, A. Ventsov, L. K. Rostovikova, V. Povolochko, N. I. Kuleshov, B. Sokolov and others.
V. B. Perepelovsky
Formula and structural diagrams of the complex were developed, which formed the basis for the development work on the creation of the Tobol radio instrument complex. The goal of the work was "Development and creation of an all-weather complex" Tobol "for ZSU-23-4" Shilka ".
In 1957, after reviewing and evaluating the materials on R&D "Topaz" presented to the customer by PO Box 825, he was given a technical assignment for the R&D "Tobol". It provided for the development of technical documentation and the manufacture of a prototype of the instrument complex, the parameters of which were determined by the previous research project "Topaz". The instrument complex included elements of stabilization of the sighting and gun lines, systems for determining the current and anticipated coordinates of the target, drives for pointing the radar antenna.
The components of the ZSU were supplied by the counterparties to the enterprise p / box 825, where the general assembly and coordination of the components were carried out.
In 1960, on the territory of the Leningrad region, factory field tests of the ZSU-23-4 were carried out, according to the results of which the prototype was presented for state tests and sent to the Donguzsky artillery range.
In February 1961, the plant's specialists (N. A. Kozlov, Yu. K. Yakovlev, V. G. Rozhkov, V. D. Ivanov, N. S. Ryabenko, O. S. Zakharov) went there to prepare for tests and presentation of the ZSU to the commission. In the summer of 1961, they were successfully carried out.
It should be noted that simultaneously with the ZSU-23-4, a prototype ZSU developed by the State Central Research Institute TsNII-20 was tested, which in 1957 was also given a technical assignment for the development of a ZSU ("Yenisei"). But according to the results of state tests, this product was not accepted for service.
In 1962 Shilka was put into service and its serial production was organized at factories in a number of cities in the USSR.
For two years (1963-1964) teams of LOMO specialists from SKB 17-18 and workshops traveled to these factories to establish serial production and work out technical documentation for the product.
The first two production samples of the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" in 1964 passed field tests by firing at a radio-controlled model (RUM) to determine the effectiveness of firing. For the first time in the practice of world anti-aircraft artillery, one of the "Shiloks" RUM was shot down - the tests ended brilliantly!
In 1967, by the decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the USSR State Prize was awarded to the Chief Designer of the ZSU-23-4 instrument complex Viktor Ernestovich Pikkel and his deputy Vsevolod Borisovich Perepelovsky for services in the field of special instrument making, as well as to a number of specialists from serial plants and customers. On their initiative and with their active participation, the work on the creation of "Shilka" was started and completed.
In 1985, a note was published in the German magazine Soldat and Tekhnika, which contained the following phrase: “In the USSR, the serial production of the ZSU-23-4, which lasted 20 years, was discontinued. But despite this, the ZSU-23-4 installation is still considered the best means of dealing with high-speed low-flying targets."
Employees of the enterprise who participated in the creation of "Shilka"
Attacking … anti-aircraft gun
First, the blue rapiers of the searchlights flashed. Cutting through the pitch darkness, the rays began a chaotic run across the night sky. Then, as if on command, they suddenly converged into a dazzling point, tenaciously holding the fascist vulture in it. Immediately, dozens of fiery trails rushed to the discovered bomber, the lights of explosions flashed high in the sky. And now the enemy plane, leaving behind a smoky plume, rushes to the ground. A blow follows, and a resounding explosion of unused bombs rolls around …
This is how Soviet anti-aircraft gunners acted during the Great Patriotic War during the defense of many of our cities from Luftwaffe bombers. By the way, the highest density of anti-aircraft artillery in the defense of, for example, Moscow, Leningrad and Baku was 8-10 times more than in the defense of Berlin and London. And in total during the war years, our anti-aircraft artillery destroyed more than 23 thousand enemy aircraft, and this speaks not only of the selfless and skillful actions of the fire crews, their high military skill, but also of the excellent combat qualities of the domestic anti-aircraft artillery.
Many artillery anti-aircraft systems were created by Soviet designers in the post-war years. Various samples of this kind of weapons, which fully meet the modern requirements of combat operations, are in service with the Soviet Army and the Navy at the present time.
… Dust swirls over the field road. Troops make a long march - as prescribed by the plan of the exercise. Columns of military equipment are moving in an endless stream: tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery tractors, rocket launchers - all of them must arrive at the indicated places at exactly the right time.
And suddenly - the command: "Air!"
But the columns do not stop, moreover, they are increasing speed, increasing the distance between the vehicles. Some of them had massive towers stirred, their trunks went up sharply, and now shots merge into a continuous rumble … This is the ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft guns firing at the "enemy", covering the columns of troops in motion.
Before starting the story about this interesting armored vehicle, let's take an excursion to … a shooting range, yes, a usual shooting range. surely every boy once fired an air rifle. Many, apparently, tried to hit moving targets. But few people thought that the brain in this situation in a split second calculates the most difficult mathematical problem. Military engineers say that this solves the predictive problem of the approach and meeting of two bodies moving in three-dimensional space. With reference to shooting gallery - tiny lead bullet and target. It would seem so simple; caught a moving target on the front sight, brought out the aiming point and quickly but smoothly pulled the trigger.
At low speeds, the target can be hit with just one bullet. But to hit, for example, a flying target (remember the so-called trap shooting, when athletes shoot at skeet, launched with a special device at high speed), one bullet is not enough. At such a target, they shoot several at once - with a shot charge.
In fact, a space charge moving in space consists of dozens of damaging elements. As soon as one of them hooks on a plate, the target is hit.
We needed all these seemingly abstract considerations to find out how to hit a high-speed air target, for example, a modern fighter-bomber, the flight speed of which can exceed 2000 km / h! Indeed, this is a difficult task.
Designers of anti-aircraft weapons have to take into account serious technical conditions. However, for all the complexity of the problem, engineers solve it using, so to speak, the "hunting" principle. The anti-aircraft gun should be fast-firing and, if possible, multi-barreled. And its control is so perfect that in a very short period of time it was possible to fire the largest number of aimed shots at the target. Only this will allow you to achieve the maximum probability of defeat.
It should be noted that anti-aircraft weapons appeared with the emergence of aviation - after all, already at the beginning of the First World War, enemy aircraft posed a real threat to both troops and rear facilities. Initially, combat airplanes were fought with conventional guns or machine guns, installing them in special devices so that they could shoot upwards. These measures turned out to be ineffective, which is why the development of anti-aircraft artillery subsequently began. An example is the 76-mm anti-aircraft gun, created by Russian designers in 1915 at the Putilov factory.
Simultaneously with the development of air attack weapons, anti-aircraft artillery was also improved. Great successes were achieved by Soviet gunsmiths, who created anti-aircraft guns with high firing efficiency before the Great Patriotic War. Its density also increased, and the fight against enemy aircraft became possible not only during the day, but also at night.
In the postwar years, anti-aircraft artillery was further improved by the appearance of rocket weapons. At one time, it even seemed that with the onset of the era of super-high-speed and super-high aircraft, the barrels had outlived their day. However, the barrel and the rocket did not deny each other at all, it was just required to distinguish between the areas of their application …
Now let's talk in more detail about the ZSU-23-4. This is an anti-aircraft self-propelled gun, the number 23 means the caliber of its guns in millimeters, 4 - the number of barrels.
The installation is intended to provide anti-aircraft protection of various objects, combat formations of troops in an oncoming battle, columns on the march from enemy aircraft flying at altitudes of 1500 m. airy. At the same time, the effective fire range is 2500m.
The basis of the SPG's firepower is a quadruple 23-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun. The rate of fire is 3400 rounds per minute, that is, every second a stream of 56 shells rushes towards the enemy! Or, if we take the mass of each of the projectiles equal to 0.2 kg, the second flow of this avalanche of metal is about 11 kg.
As a rule, shooting is carried out in short bursts - 3 - 5 or 5 - 10 shots per barrel, and if the target is high-speed, then up to 50 shots per barrel. This makes it possible to create a high density of fire in the target area for reliable destruction.
The ammunition load consists of 2 thousand rounds, and the shells are used of two types - high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing incendiary. The feed of the trunks is tape. It is interesting that the belts are loaded in a strictly defined order - for three high-explosive fragmentation shells there is one armor-piercing incendiary.
The speed of modern aircraft is so high that even the most modern anti-aircraft guns cannot do without reliable and fast aiming equipment. This is exactly what -ZSU-23-4 has. Accurate instruments continuously solve the very same predictive problem of the encounter, which was discussed in the example of firing an air rifle at a moving target. In a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, the trunks are also directed not to the point where the air target is at the time of the shot, but to another, called the pre-emptive one. It lies ahead - on the path of the target's movement. And the projectile must hit this point at the same time. It is characteristic that the ZSU shoots without zeroing - each turn is calculated and fought as if it were a new target every time. And immediately to defeat.
But before hitting a target, it must be discovered. This task is entrusted to the radar - a radar station. She searches for a target, detects it and then automatically accompanies an air enemy. The radar also helps to determine the coordinates of the target and the distance to it.
The antenna of the radar station is clearly visible in the drawings of the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun - it is installed on a special column above the tower. This is a parabolic "mirror", but the observer sees on the tower only a flat cylinder ("washer") - an antenna casing made of radio-transparent material, which protects it from damage and atmospheric precipitation.
The very same aiming problem is solved by the PSA - a calculating device, a kind of brain of an anti-aircraft installation. In essence, this is a small-sized on-board electronic computer that solves the forecasting problem. Or, as military engineers say, the PSA develops lead angles when aiming a gun at a moving target. This is how the shot line is formed.
A few words about the group of instruments that form the line of sight stabilization system for the firing line. The effectiveness of their action is such that, no matter how the ZSU threw from side to side when moving, for example, on a country road, no matter how it shook, the radar antenna continues to track the target, and the cannon barrels are precisely directed along the line of the shot. The fact is that the automatics remembers the initial aiming of the radar antenna and the gun "and simultaneously stabilizes them in two guidance planes - horizontal and vertical. Therefore, the" self-propelled gun "is able to conduct accurate aimed fire while in motion with the same efficiency as from the spot.
By the way, neither atmospheric conditions (fog, poor visibility) nor the time of day affect the accuracy of firing. Thanks to the radar station, the anti-aircraft gun is operational under any meteorological conditions. And she can move even in complete darkness - an infrared device provides visibility at a distance of 200 - 250 m.
The crew consists of only four people: the commander, the driver, the search operator (gunner) and the range operator. The designers very successfully assembled the ZSU, thought out the working conditions of the crew. For example, to transfer the gun from the traveling position to the combat position, you do not need to leave the installation. This operation is carried out directly from the site by the commander or search operator. They also control the cannon and fire. It should be noted that much is borrowed from the tank - this is understandable: the "self-propelled gun" is also an armored tracked vehicle. In particular, it is equipped with navigation tank equipment so that the commander can constantly monitor the location and the path traveled by the ZSU, as well as, without leaving the car, navigate the terrain and plot movement courses on the map, Now about ensuring the safety of the crew members. People are separated from the cannon by a vertical armored partition, which protects against bullets and shrapnel, as well as from flames and powder gases. Particular attention is paid to the functioning and combat operations of the vehicle in conditions of the use of nuclear weapons by the enemy: the design of the ZSU-23-4 includes anti-nuclear protection equipment and fire-fighting equipment. The microclimate inside the anti-aircraft gun is taken care of by the FVU - a filtering unit capable of cleaning the outside air from radioactive dust. It also creates excess pressure inside the combat vehicle, which prevents contaminated air from entering through possible cracks.
The reliability and survivability of the installation are high enough. Its nodes are very perfect and reliable mechanisms, it is armored. The vehicle's maneuverability is comparable to that of a tank.
In conclusion, let's try to simulate a battle episode in modern conditions. Imagine a ZSU-23-4 covering a column of troops on the march. But the radar station, continuously conducting a circular search, detects an air target. Who is this? Yours or someone else's? A request immediately follows about the ownership of the aircraft, and if there is no answer to it, the commander's decision will be the only one - fire!
But the enemy is cunning, maneuvers, attacks the anti-aircraft gunners. And in the midst of the battle, she cuts off the antenna of the radar with a shrapnel. It would seem that the "blinded" antiaircraft gun is completely out of action, but the designers have provided for this and even more difficult situations. A radar station, a calculating device and even a stabilization system may fail - the installation will still be combat-ready. The search operator (gunner) will fire using an anti-aircraft sight-backup, and introduce lead along the angle rings.
That's basically all about the ZSU-23-4 combat vehicle. Soviet soldiers skillfully manage modern technology, mastering such military specialties that have appeared recently as a result of the scientific and technological revolution. The clarity and consistency of their work allows them to successfully resist almost any air enemy.
