It seems that putting the ZU-23-2 twin-barreled anti-aircraft gun on the truck to turn it into a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is a common trend in the world
According to military experts, this is a simple but extremely effective improvement direction, especially with the twin-barreled cannon that was born in the 1960s of the last century. This direction has also been previously applied by the Vietnam People’s Army on their ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft cannon complexes. Accordingly, Vietnam’s ZU-23-2 is placed on a truck chassis KamAZ 43118 and M548.
Remember, trucks like the KamAZ 43118 are very commonly used in the payroll of the Vietnam Army, so the process of upgrading and improving has advantages, because they have a lot of experience in operating and maintain these vehicles. It can be seen that Vietnam’s improved ZU-23-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system is not inferior to any product in the world today.
ZU-23-2 is a 23mm twin barrel anti-aircraft gun researched and manufactured by the Soviet Union since the 1960s of the last century. The cannon has a wheel design for easy movement. When switching to combat, the cannon will lower its pincers and be placed on a fixed plate, allowing it to rotate 360 ​​degrees.
The initial version had a manual aiming equipment, including a ZAP-23 optical sight and a mechanical sight. The advantage of this weapon is that it can lower the barrel very low, helping to cope well with low-flying targets, or use to suppress enemy infantry and armor with fire density, and extremely formidable power.
Its two cartridges are located on either side and are loaded through a conveyor. Each original cartridge has 50 rounds of ammunition, the theoretical rate of fire of this cannon is up to 2,000 rounds/minute each barrel. In actual combat conditions, the ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun is capable of firing at a maximum speed of up to 400 rounds per minute each barrel. This helps provide extremely dense firepower, suppressing the enemy in many situations.
With a weight of only 950 kg, this anti-aircraft gun can be towed by man on the battlefield, although the effectiveness of this is not high. Increasing the mobility of this anti-aircraft gun is very important, especially in today’s modern combat context, when modern weapons are capable of very fast counter-attacks.
Putting the ZU-23-2 on truck chassis not only increases maneuverability, but also helps combat crews to react promptly to changes on the battlefield, moving on the battlefield or changing the direction of defense effectively. Up to the present time, despite turning 60 years old, the ZU-23-2 cannon is still widely used around the world. A few countries in Asia are still using this weapon, including Vietnam, Iran, North Korea, Laos, Myanmar, etc.
