ASU-57

ASU-57
	ASU-57 in the Kubinka Tank Museum (2006)
General properties
crew	3 (commander, driver, gunner)
length	4.99 m above the tub
width	2.08 m
height	1.18 m
Dimensions	3.5 tons (empty)
	Armor and armament
Armor	4-6 mm
Main armament	1 × 57-mm cannon-Tsch-51 ; later Tsch-51M
Secondary armament	1 × 7.62 mm SGMT - machine gun (coaxial)
agility
drive	4-cylinder petrol engine M-20E ; 55 HP (41 kW)
Top speed	45 km / h (road) ; 25 km / h (terrain)
Power / weight	16 hp / ton
Range	250 km

The ASU-57 ( A wiadessantnaja S amochodnaja U stanowka ; Russian АСУ-57 Авиадесантная самоходная установка , in German: Luftlande-Selbstfahrlafette 57) was a Soviet airborne self-propelled gun (SFL). Their task was to provide mobile artillery support to airborne troops operating in isolation behind enemy lines .

history

During the Second World War , all testing and development work on light armored vehicles in the Soviet Union ceased. Only after 1945 was it possible to carry out more specific development work again. Work on the self-propelled gun OSU-76 began as early as mid-1944 in Plant No. 38. The open-top OSU-76 was armed with the 76.2 mm ZiS-3 Model 1942 cannon. At the same plant, a self-propelled gun with a 45-mm cannon was also developed and tested, which was based on assemblies of the light tank T-60 .

The factory no. 40 in Mytishchi developed from 1946, the ASU-76 (object 570) and their buoyant variant ASU-76P (object 571). The ASU-76 armed with the 76.2 mm LB-76s (D-56s) cannon was added to the armament on December 17, 1949 as the first self-propelled airborne gun. Series production did not take place. In 1949, the floating airborne SFL K-73 was developed in the wagon repair plant No. 2. This was equipped with the 57-mm cannon Tsch-51 and a coaxial 7.62-mm MG SG-43 .

Self-propelled airborne gun "Object 572"

In 1948, under the direction of chief designer NA Astrow, the light airborne SPG with the factory index "Object 572" was developed in the special design office 40 of plant no. 40 , and a test model was built that successfully completed the tests by 1949. The "Object 572" was included in the armament as ASU-57 by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on September 19, 1951 and went into series production in the same year. The ASU-57 was shown for the first time at the May 1, 1957 military parade.

technology

The welded hull was only lightly armored to save weight. The open top of the fighting area was only covered with a tarpaulin. The tub front was beveled, the sides were vertical, the rear and floor were made of duralumin .

The four-cylinder M-20E engine (known from the GAZ-69 ) with an output of 50 hp was used for the drive . It was installed in the front right and drove the drive wheels in front. The ASU-57 got a support roller drive with four individually suspended rollers and two support rollers on each side. There were no guide rollers, the rollers were spring-mounted. The ground pressure of 0.35 kp / cm² also made it possible to use it on soft ground.

The main armament was a 57-mm cannon Tsch-51 ( Tsch-51M ), which was installed slightly offset to the right. The cannon's combat set included fragmentation shells with a maximum combat range of 6000 meters, tank shells with a penetration rate of 85 mm at 1000 m and a sub-caliber shell with a penetration rate of 100 mm at 1000 m. The cannon achieved a rate of six to ten rounds per minute.

The small dimensions and the low battle mass of 3.5 tons enabled air transport and parachute dropping. The specially developed heavy cargo glider Jak-14 was to be towed by the Tu-4T tow plane and could transport an ASU-57 with a combat kit and two men (maximum 3.6 tons). Two ASU-57s were to be transported in special containers (P-98M or P-90) under the wings of the Tu-4D bomber. Both variants did not leave the experimental stage.

It was not until 1959 that the Antonov An-24 transport aircraft and the MKS-4-127 and MKS-5-128R parachute systems with the PP-128-500 and P-7 parachute platforms (An-12B, An-22, Il-76) were installed ) in real troop deployment. Two ASU-57s with combat units on platforms with a parachute system could be lowered from an An-12B from heights of 500 to 8000 meters. Transport by helicopter was also possible. The load platforms were not only necessary for taking up the SPG and lashing it in the aircraft, they also had coil springs to absorb the impact. Brake rockets were used in later parachute systems with a larger payload. The combat readiness could be achieved in a short time after landing, as the loosening of the lashing only took a few minutes. The airborne troops deployed 54 vehicles per division.

The ASU-57 was in use until the late 1960s.