The ZU-23-2, better known as ZU-23, is a towed Soviet short-range air defense cannon. A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. ZU stands for Zenitnaya Ustanovka - anti-aircraft mount.
Contents |
Description and history
ZU-23-2 was developed in late 1950s and entered service with the Soviet Army in 1960. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It mounts two 2A14 23 mm autocannons on a small trailer which can be converted into a stationary mount for firing the guns. An autocannon is a rapid fire projectile Weapon. Autocannon often have a larger Caliber (calibre than a Machine gun (i The cannon can be prepared for firing from the march position in 30 seconds and in emergency can be fired from traveling position. The weapon is aimed and fired manually, with the help of a ZAP-23 optical-mechanical sight which uses manually entered target data to provide some automatic aiming. It also has a straight-tube telescope for use against ground targets such as troops and lightly armoured vehicles.
The cannon carriage is based on the earlier ZPU-2, which mounted two 14. The ZPU-4 is a towed quadruple barreled Anti-aircraft gun based on the Soviet KPV 14 5 mm machine guns. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. ZU-23-2 can be identified by different placement of the ammunition boxes (at right angles to the gun carriage) and by muzzle flash suppressors. In another similarity to the ZPU series, single-barrel and four-barrel versions of the ZU-23 were developed. However, these versions never entered service.
Development of this weapon into a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) lead to the ZSU-23-4 Shilka. The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Self-propelled, Radar guided Anti-aircraft Weapon system ( SPAAG) ZU-23-2 is often mounted on trucks for use in both anti-aircraft and fire support roles. It can also be mounted on the roof of the BTR-D airborne vehicle. The BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne Infantry fighting vehicle, which was introduced in 1969 and first seen by the West in 1970
Cheap, easy to operate and reasonably effective, the ZU-23-2 is still used by the Russian Army and by more than 20 other armies. The Russian Ground Forces (Сухопутные войска Российской Федерации tr The Finnish military nickname for the weapon is Sergei. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. There are also non-ex-Soviet produced versions of the weapon. One example is the Polish ZUR-23-2TG, which has improved sights and is armed with "Grom" missiles in addition to the autocannons. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Another is the Finnish 23 ItK 95, which is often vehicle mounted, like a technical. A technical is a type of Improvised fighting vehicle, typically a civilian or military non-combat vehicle modified to
Variants
- ZU-23 - Original Soviet variant.
- ZU-23M - Upgraded Soviet variant. Has new targeting system (which includes laser rangefinder, television channel, optical mechanic device, can be reinforced with thermo location channel and a television system for usage at night) and electromechanic turn system.
- ZU-23-2S JOD - Polish version additionally armed with "Strela-2M" missiles (picture). For the STRELA computer see Strela computer. For the Apollo test mission see A-102 The 9K32 "Strela-2"
- ZU-23-2M - Polish naval version (picture).
- ZUR-23-2TG - Polish version additionally armed with "Grom" missiles (pictures). The GROM (meaning "thunder" in Polish) is a 72 mm anti-aircraft missile set with a flight speed of 650 m/s developed in Poland.
- 23 ItK 95 - Finnish upgrade (picture). Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe.
- Type 85 Chinese built version of the ZU-23-2 with Twin-23mm guns(picture).
- Type 87 Chinese upgraded version with Twin-25mm guns(picture).
General characteristics
- Overall dimensions in firing position
- Length: 4570 mm
- Width: 2880 mm
- Height: 1220 mm
- Weight: 0. 95 tonnes
- Armament: two 2A14 Afanasyev-Yakushev 23 mm autocannons
- Barrel length: 2010 mm / 87. 3 calibers
- Muzzle velocity: 970 m/s
- Projectile weight: 178 g
- Rate of fire
- Cyclic: 2,000 rounds per minute
- Practical: 400 rounds per minute
- Effective range: 2 - 2. 5 km
- Effective altitude: 1. 5 - 2 km
- Ammunition
- BZT Armor Piercing Incendiary Tracer (API-T) rounds
- OFZ High Explosive Incendiary Tracer (HEI-T) rounds
- Crew: 6
Operators
Afghanistan - 5000
Algeria - 60
Armenia
Bangladesh
Bosnia and Herzegovina - 19
Bulgaria - 128
Cambodia
China - Type 85, Type 87
Cape Verde - 8
Estonia - 98
Ethiopia - 10
Finland - 1100
Gabon - 24
Georgia - 200
Greece - 523
Guinea-Bissau - 16
India - 800
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq - until 2003, current situation unknown
Laos - 2
Lebanon
Libya - 450
Morocco - 160
Mozambique - 150
Namibia - 12
Nicaragua - 20
Nigeria - 20
Pakistan - 10
Peru - 30
Poland - 408
Russia
Serbia
Sri Lanka
Tanzania - 40
Uganda - 5
Ukraine
Vietnam
Yemen - 200
Zimbabwe - 5
Former Operators
Soviet Union - Passed on to the successor states. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Latin script: Bosna i Hercegovina, Cyrillic script: Босна и Херцеговина is a country on the Balkan The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese: Cabo Verde, 'kabu 'veɾdɨ is a Republic located on an Archipelago in the Macaronesia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Gabon (gəˈbɒn or /gaˈbõ/ in French) is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (ˈgɪni bɨˈsaʊ República da Guiné-Bissau ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɐ giˈnɛ biˈsau is a country in Western Africa, and one of the smallest India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, from March 20 to May 1 2003 was spearheaded by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia Laos (ˈlɑːoʊs or /ˈlaʊs/ officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a Landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Yemen ( Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman officially the Republic of Yemen ( Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhuuriyya See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
External links
- ZU-23 - TWIN MOUNT 23 mm AA Guns – Walk around photos
- Enemyforces.com
- Gulflink
- Photo gallery at pvo.guns.ru
- Finnish army presentation of the ZU-23-2, or 23 ItK 61, nicknamed "Sergei"
- Type 85 Twin-23mm Towed Anti-Aircraft Artillery
- Type 87 Twin-25mm Towed Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic