ZSU-57-2

Includes two ZSU-57-2 Self-propelled Anti-aircraft guns, one Arab head sprue suitable for Fate Of A Nation, one North Vietnamese head sprue suitable for Tour Of Duty & four Rare earth magnets.

The ZSU-57-2 was a Soviet-built self-propelled anti-aircraft gun that first came into service with the Red Army in 1955. The acronym ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, which when translated means anti-aircraft self-propelled mount; 57 designates the calibre of the weapons and 2 states the number of gun barrels.

Built on the chassis of the T-54 tank, the twin S-68 57mm cannons were mounted in an open-topped turret which only offered the crew inside a minimum level of armour protection.

Manned by a crew of six (driver, commander, gunner, dedicated sight adjuster and a pair of loaders), the ZSU-57-2 was limited to only engaging aircraft that the crew could actually see. Once an aircraft was spotted, the sight adjuster had to correctly calibrate the gun sight before the target could be engaged, making the vehicle virtually useless during night-time operations.

Like other Soviet vehicles of the period, the ZSU-57-2 was exported to countries outside of the Soviet Union. These included nations of the Warsaw Pact, North Korea, North Vietnam and counties in the Middle-East including the United Arab Republic, who placed an order for 100 vehicles in 1960.

Despite its poor performance in both the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, its high rate of fire was not only deadly to aircraft, but the high-velocity rounds could easily punch through lightly armoured vehicles.

Miniatures are supplied unpainted and may require assembly.