The Soviets always had a healthy respect for the NATO Air Forces.
Even if the NATO Air Force was able to defeat the Warsaw Pact Air Force
in the Cold War, the Forward Airspace of the battlefield
would still be a very dangerous place.
The Soviets put a lot of emphasis on Anti-Aircraft Systems
on ground vehicles, both missile and air.
Probably the most definitive is the one behind me,
the ZSU-23-4, known as 'Shilka' after the river.
It was designed in the late 1950's but only entered service in 1965.
And it was to be a mobile fire-on-the-move armored system
for protecting Tank Regiments.
It turned out to be one of the most lethal Anti-Air Systems ever made
and is still in wide-spread service today with over six
and a half thousand vehicles being made.
Weighing in at about twenty-five metric tons,
the vehicle with its 500 liter fuel tank had an operating range
at just over 500 kilometers,
with a maximum speed of just over
thirty five miles an hour/fifty kilometers an hour.
Combined with infra-red and white light illumination,
the vehicle was perfectly capable of operating at night in tactical conditions.
Based on the GM series of Chassis,
it used the typical stamped road wheels that the Soviet Production
used of the era on torsion-bar suspension.
The track is a very simple steel single pin track
with bolts on the end holding the pins in place.
The engine was a six cylinder diesel, cranking out 280 Horsepower.
And the vehicle was reasonably mobile,
but what was most important about it was a combination
of four water-cooled 23mm cannons and a Radar.
This made lethal and accurate, far more so than the ZSU-57-2, which it replaced.
Carries a crew of four: Driver, Commander, Gunner and Radar Operator.
The Driver is in the font left, and the other three are in the turret.
We'll have a look at those very briefly.
The Driver in the front left has the typical three pedals;
clutch, break, and accelerator.
And to his front center is the manual gear shift.
It is a five speed transmission forward and one speed in reverse.
He is completely isolated from the rest of the crew.
He has no way of accessing the turret
and his only point of access is the large hatch in the front slope.
On either side of the main armament are the stowage bins for the ammunition.
Two thousand rounds of ammunition, combination of Armored Piercing,
High Explosive, or variants thereof.
Usually in fifty round belts, about five hundred
and twenty for the upper guns and four hundred eighty for the lower.
The ammunition was fired off in salvos of anything from two-ten rounds per.
Basically, this was an area denial weapon.
If you could hit the enemy aircraft, Fantastic!
If you couldn't, you probably made the pilot very nervous
and what you have is virtual attrition.
If he misses, because he's so nervous from all the tracers coming at him,
the vehicle has done its job anyway.
It has protected the vehicles it was designed to protect.
Left hand side of the turret is where the commander sits.
He is somewhat isolated from the rest of his crewman by a curtain.
In the center is the gunner and to the right the Radio operator.
The technology is a little bit archaic by the standards of the day.
You're talking about vacuum tubes more than transistors.
The Radar is mounted at the very rear of the turret.
It does have an optical back up, so if the radar goes down
you can still engage manually with simply using the eyeball
and estimating lead on your own.
The optical backup sight is located under two armored houses,
which are spring loaded
In-between the four barrels you can see the ejection chutes for the shell-casings.
They're fired forward and deflected sideways.
And when this thing fires you basically have a hose-pipe of brass coming out,
the rate of fire is so high.
And hence, you need the water-cooling in order to keep the barrels
at a reasonable temperature.
The Vehicle saw particular service in the Vietnam War
and the Arab-Israeli Wars.
Especially in the Arab-Israeli Wars they were considered very, very, effective.
The SA-6 Missile System would force Israeli Aircraft low to the ground
and thus into Shilka's Operating Envelope.
It was also deemed very effective as a ground support weapon.
Four 23mm Cannons is going to do you a lot of damage,
especially against light skinned vehicles or Infantry.
As a result, there was an Afghan modification made
which was basically the same vehicle with the Radar System removed.
Since the guns could elevate to 85 degrees there were few cliffs,
mountains, or high buildings that could not be adequately dealt with
by the water-cooled cannons.
Because of the distinctive quad barrels and short barrel length,
the vehicle is a favorite for US Army AFV ID Tests, almost a freebee.
The vehicle was actually very successful.
In conjunction with the layered defense of Missiles,
the missiles would force the enemy aircraft lower,
into the Shilka's engagement envelope,
and thus Shilka developed a reputation for being highly lethal.
Of the six and a half thousand vehicles built,
two thousand or so were exported to various countries
The vehicle behind me was one that was exported to the NVA
and was a product of the East German Army Closing down sale.
After re-integration, the vehicle came on the open market
and eventually found its way to the Littlefield Collection here in California.