Anti-aircraft tank
An anti-aircraft tank is an armored vehicle that is used for air defense and, if necessary, for air surveillance over short and medium distances.
term
The term anti-aircraft tank is only used in this form in German-speaking countries. In English, the terms anti-aircraft vehicle , self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon (abbreviated SPAA ) or self-propelled air defense system (abbreviated SPAD , self-propelled air defense system ), in Russian the term Зенитная самоходная установка (abbreviated ЗСУ , self-propelled anti-aircraft mount ) common. In either case, the content of the term is not limited to armored weapons systems.
The term Flakpanzer as an abbreviation for anti-aircraft cannon tanks can be documented for the first time with certainty in German usage in 1944, when the weapon system based on the chassis of the Panzer IV was called "Flakpanzer (2 cm) with chassis Panzer IV (Sd.Kfz. 161/4)" has been. Its predecessor, built in the same year on the same chassis, was given the name "Panzerflak self-propelled gun (3.7 cm) on Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz. 161/3)".
In the parlance of the Bundeswehr , the terms anti-aircraft cannon tanks , or Flak tanks for short , and anti-aircraft rocket tanks , or FlaRak tanks for short , are generally used for such vehicles . In the language of the NVA , such vehicles, provided they were armed with cannons, were generally referred to as anti- aircraft self-propelled guns , or Fla-Sfl for short .
Classification
The vehicles are structurally divided into anti-aircraft gun tanks and anti-aircraft rocket tanks, as well as mixed forms.
Anti-aircraft gun tanks
The armament of modern Flakpanzer consists of machine guns that have been modified or designed for air defense. Although these weapons have a relatively short range, they are characterized by a high cadence . The projectile cloud thus created achieves a sufficiently high probability of destruction. Single-tube weapon systems are mostly used, but in some cases several are used at the same time. Gatling cannons or other multi-barreled weapon systems are also used, albeit comparatively rarely. The compact design enables high straightening speeds, which facilitates the fight against low-flying, fast targets.
In modern flak tanks, the target data are determined with the help of a radar device or optoelectronic sensors. Taking into account the course and speed of the air target and the time of flight of the bullets will lead point calculated and determined the benchmarks for weapons. The weapons are aimed automatically with the help of electric or hydraulic aiming drives. Some flak tanks have sensors for measuring temperature, muzzle velocity and other parameters relevant to ballistics . These flow into the calculation of the guide values, which increases the accuracy. Modern flak tanks are able to fight fire both while standing and while driving.
Frag grenades are fired in combat against air targets . Due to the high speed of the flight path and the high rate of fire, flak tanks are also suitable for fighting targets on the ground. Armor-piercing shells are also used in these cases.
Anti-aircraft missile tanks
The armament of anti-aircraft missile tanks , or anti-aircraft missiles for short , consists of anti-aircraft missiles . Both infrared and radar-controlled guided missiles are used. Infrared guided missiles are self - guiding fire-and-forget weapons that are able to target targets without further assistance from the fire platform, the shooter or other external aids. Radar-controlled guided missiles require one or more radar devices that continuously capture the target and guided missile, as well as a fire control computer that calculates the steering commands for the guided missile. This can also be accommodated in the guided missile.
Mixed forms
In addition to guns, combination systems also have missiles to combat targets.
history
Time until the end of the First World War
Anti-aircraft guns were mounted on truck chassis even before the beginning of the First World War . The reason was not so much to protect one's own troops on the battlefield - this was unnecessary because of the practically non-existent bomb and attack aircraft - than to increase the mobility of these weapons. The guns, originally called anti- balloon cannons, were developed to combat tethered balloons , which in turn were used for long-range reconnaissance and for directing artillery fire . Motorized anti-balloon cannons could be relocated more quickly and used to form focal points. Such vehicles were developed in Germany by Krupp , among others , but also in the United Kingdom , France , the USA and Russia . With the beginning of the World War, fighting aircraft was added as a task for these weapons. Initially, aircraft were also used primarily for reconnaissance and fire control. Increasingly, however, bomb and attack aircraft have been developed and manufactured. While the German aircraft industry produced 294 reconnaissance aircraft (type A) in 1914, but not a single bomb or attack aircraft, in 1918 there were 465 attack aircraft (types I and S), 789 bomber aircraft (type G) and 7,320 reconnaissance, bomb and protection aircraft (type C ). With the increasing use of aircraft at the front, but also with the massive use of artillery, it was necessary to protect anti-aircraft vehicles. Logically, at least the cabs of the vehicles were armored. Ehrhardt's anti-balloon cannon was a pioneer on the German side, but its design was rejected. Further examples of this development are the Russo-Balt T with 76 mm flak and Austin with 57 mm flak, developed in Russia . The weapons used were cannons with a caliber of 50 to 77 mm, which were modified for use as anti-aircraft or balloon weapons. These weapons had sufficient ballistic performance to combat both balloons - which soared over enemy positions - and aircraft. The weapons were set up on relatively high base mounts in order to achieve a swivel range of 360 ° and to enable a sufficient return of the pipe even at high elevation angles . However, the high position and the space required to operate the weapon when pivoting made protection difficult. At least during the march, the crew of some vehicles was protected against handguns and splinters by folding side walls. When folded down, these side walls served as a step surface for the operator.
Another line of development emerged from the use of small-caliber machine weapons. The lower impact on the target was offset by the higher cadence. Due to the shorter range, however, this weapon had to be used in the front line and was therefore more exposed to enemy weapon action. However, since these weapons were much more compact and required a smaller operation, the development of all-round armored anti-aircraft vehicles was possible.
Canon de 75 modèle 1897 on truck, France
<Davidson-Cadillac, USA, 1909
7.7-Krupp anti-balloon cannon, Germany, 1912
QF 13 pounder 6 cwt AA gun on a truck from Thornycroft , United Kingdom, 1915
Austin with 57mm anti-aircraft gun, Russia, 1915
Russo-Balt T with 76 mm FlaK, Russia, 1915
75mm 1916 Model field gun on truck, USA, 1916
Peerless with 40-мм Vickers QF Mark II , United Kingdom, 1916
Time between the world wars
In the 1920s, Tukhachevsky and Triandafillow ( deep operation ) in the Soviet Union , Lidell Hart in the United Kingdom, de Gaulle in France, and Nehring and Guderian in Germany developed concepts for agile combat management based mainly on armored troops. These ideas consequently also required the development of appropriately mobile, protected support vehicles.
In the Soviet Union, the SU-6 and the SU-8 were developed from the early 1930s . The modern 76 mm anti-aircraft gun M1931 , originally developed by Rheinmetall, was intended for both vehicles . The base vehicle of the SU-6 was the light tank T-26 , for the SU-8 the heavy tank T-28 . In both vehicles, it was not possible to protect the operator during the use of weapons due to the problems described above, only during the march it was partially protected by folding side walls. The T-26 was too inefficient to carry the heavy anti-aircraft gun. Since the engine, power transmission and chassis were permanently overloaded, the development had to be stopped. Due to the difficulties with the production of the T-28, the only prototype of the SU-8 was never completed. The approach to arm the T-26 with a smaller and lighter 40 mm anti-aircraft gun was not pursued. Only the 76 mm Fla-Sfl 29-K was produced in very small numbers. The weapon mounted on the chassis of the JaA-10 heavy truck corresponded conceptually to the anti-aircraft vehicles of the First World War and, due to the lack of armor in the cab, had less protection than the vehicles from Russo-Balt or Austin. Thus, at the beginning of the Second World War , the Red Army had practically no self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons.
In the United Kingdom, the second prototype of the Birch gun was equipped with a 75 mm cannon and was suitable for combat against air targets. The weapon was set up openly on the chassis, so the operator was unprotected during use. However, the project was canceled in 1928. Vickers Armstrong built an anti-aircraft tank with the QF 1 pounder pom-pom (caliber 40 mm) on the chassis of the Mk.E 6-ton light tank / Dragon Medium Mark IV tractor . 26 of this vehicle were sold to Siam and used in the Franco-Thai War , making it the world's first anti-aircraft tank on a tracked chassis. The Light Tank AA Mk.I. , also a Vickers-Armstrong development, was armed with four machine guns. From the Light Tank Mk VI both versions with two 15-mm machine guns, as were also made with four .50cal machine guns. Overall, the British approach of incorporating small-caliber machine weapons instead of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns into existing tank chassis proved more successful than the Soviet efforts. However, these anti-aircraft weapons had a relatively short range. The protection and mobility of these tanks were also poor.
In Germany the development of armored anti-aircraft weapons was inhibited by the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . Due to the prohibition on the development and construction of tanks, no suitable base vehicles were available. The Panzerkampfwagen I and II did not become operational until 1934 and 1935, respectively. Both vehicles were too small and inefficient to carry effective anti-aircraft armament. For this purpose, anti-aircraft weapons were created on half-track vehicles . With the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 and the Sd.Kfz. 6/2 , at the beginning of the Second World War, a 2 cm or 37 mm FlaK was available on such chassis. The vehicles were mobile and could follow armored units on the march and in the attack, but the protection was only available in the form of the protective shield of the anti-aircraft weapons, the vehicle and operator remained unprotected.
Birch gun Mk. II, United Kingdom, 1926
Sd.Kfz 6/2
Sd.Kfz 10/4
Second World War
During the Second World War, the effectiveness of the use of had increasingly Sturzkampf- , Jagdbomben- and attack planes clearly shown. In the absence of air superiority , the ability to conduct one's own operations without effective air defense was severely limited. Own troops needed protection not only in the areas of disposal , but also on the march and in combat. This led to the further development of self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery and the development of anti-aircraft tanks in the classic sense.
In Germany, the use of half-track vehicles as a carrier vehicle for anti-aircraft weapons was initially retained. In addition to the types already introduced, the 2 cm Flak Vierling 38 and the 3.7 cm Flak 37 were sold on the Sd.Kfz. 7 developed, produced and used. The demand for increased protection for the operator led from 1942 to the development of anti-aircraft vehicles based on the Sd.Kfz armored personnel carrier. 251 . While the SdKfz 251/4 with two MG 34 was not ready for action, the SdKfz 251/17 with a 2 cm Flak 38 was produced in significant numbers. From 1943 about 320 examples of the armored personnel carrier 251/21 with anti-aircraft drilling were made. Either three 1.5 cm MG 151/15 or three 2 cm MG 151/20 were used as weapons . The 8.8 cm FlaK on Sd.Kfz. 8 or Sd.Kfz. 9 are not anti-aircraft vehicles, as the weapons were developed for use against bunkered positions or as tank destroyers.
On the American side, the half-track M3 served as the basis for the development of the M16 . Initially armed with two 12.7 mm machine guns and designated as M13, the M45 Quadmount, called the M45 Quadmount , was used with .50 caliber. The M15 version with the 37-mm Gun M1 got an armored turret that could be rotated all around.
In the United Kingdom, as in the Soviet Union, small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons were primarily mounted on truck chassis due to the lack of their own half-track vehicles. The Soviet ZiS-43 with the 37mm FlaK M1939 did not get ready for series production and was discontinued in November 1942. In Great Britain, light guns were initially loaded onto trucks. This resulted in the permanent installation of the weapons on a truck chassis. The first such vehicle was the "Carrier, SP, 4x4, 40 mm AA" on the Morris C8, equipped with a 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun . Other vehicles of this type followed.
However, increasingly these solutions have been insufficient. Although these vehicles were sufficiently mobile, the lack of protection became a disadvantage. By using tank chassis, protection and mobility were to be brought into line with those of battle tanks. An anti-aircraft tank was initially developed in neutral Sweden during the war . The Luftvärnskanonvagn L-62 Anti II was derived from the Stridsvagn L-60 tank in 1941/42 . The 40 mm Flak 40 ItK / 38 from Bofors was used as a weapon. Six of these tanks were sold to Finland in 1942 and were used by the Axis powers during World War II. The design documents for the L-62 Anti I had already been sold to Hungary in 1940. The 40M Nimrod with a 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun manufactured under license was built there on their basis . Compared to the original design, the turret was enlarged and the turret armor reinforced. Between November 1941 and 1944 around 135 Nimrod were produced.
In Germany, the development of anti-aircraft weapons on tank chassis initially failed because of the available chassis. The Flakpanzer I with the 2 cm FlaK was only produced in small numbers in 1940. Later, the lack of production capacities prevented the construction of anti-aircraft tanks, so that the Sd.Kfz. 251 had to be used. The first powerful Flakpanzer IV was not used until March 1944 . The "Panzerflak self-propelled gun (3.7 cm) on Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz. 161/3)", known in the furniture van troops, was equipped with a 3.7 cm anti-aircraft gun and 240 units were built. For the fire fight, the side walls had to be folded down so that the operator was unprotected during the fire fight. The Flakpanzer Wirbelwind , officially known as "Flakpanzer (2 cm) with chassis Panzer IV (Sd.Kfz. 161/4)", was armed with the 2 cm Flak Vierling 38 and had a 360 ° rotating turret with a fixed tower Sidewalls. Between August 1944 and February 1945, 105 whirlwinds were produced. The east wind was constructed similarly to the whirlwind , but only had a 3.7 cm FlaK 43 . A prototype was built and used during the Battle of the Bulge , another prototype of the Ostwind II with a 3.7 cm Flak Zwilling 44 was built at the turn of the year 1944/45, as was a destroyer 45 with the 3 cm Flak Vierling 103/38 . Series production was no longer carried out. From Kugelblitz only five pre-series were produced until the war ended. The tank was armed with two 30 mm MK 103/38 cannons with belt feed and had a completely closed turret. The installation of a spatial distance meter was planned. The Flakpanzer Coelian with two 3.7 cm anti -aircraft cannons in a closed tower on the chassis of the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther remained a draft model, only a dummy was built.
In Great Britain the Crusader served as the base vehicle for anti-aircraft tanks. The Crusader III, AA Mk I was equipped with the 40 mm flak from Bofors, the Crusader III, AA Mk II and Mk III with two 20 mm machine cannons from Oerlikon and a Vickers K machine gun or with three machine guns . Mk II and III differed only in the arrangement of the radio system. The Centaur was also produced as a flak tank. Of the Centaur AA Mk I version, equipped with two poles of 20 mm anti-aircraft guns , 95 were used on the landing in Normandy , but later withdrawn from the front line because anti-aircraft weapons were only needed to a small extent due to the Allied air superiority. The successor Centaur AA Mk II also received two Polsten 20 mm flak.
The M24 Chaffee served as the starting point for the development of an anti-aircraft tank in the USA. The version designated as the M19 was armed with a 40mm anti-aircraft twin from Bofors. Of the 904 tanks ordered, 285 were delivered.
Various efforts were made in the Soviet Union to develop flak tanks based on light tanks. Like the SU-72, none of the developments came to production, mainly because the Soviet armaments industry was busy with the construction of tanks and self-propelled guns. Only 70 of the ZSU-37 were produced from 1944 onwards, but the vehicle was no longer used at the front during the war.
Towards the end of the war, the anti-aircraft tank built on the chassis of a medium tank and equipped with one or two automatic cannons of 37 to 44 mm caliber had developed as the standard solution. Distance measuring devices or fire control systems were not integrated, and reflex sights were used for shooting . In addition, lightly or only partially armored anti-aircraft vehicles were used on half-tracks that were armed with multi-barreled machine guns. The advantage here was the lower complexity, which resulted in a lower price, lower manufacturing requirements and higher availability.
- Anti-aircraft weapons on trucks and half-tracks
Sd.Kfz 7/1 with a 2 cm Flak Vierling 38
Sd.Kfz 7/2 with 3.7 cm Flak 37
M13
M15
M16
British 40mm anti-aircraft guns on truck
- Anti-aircraft weapons on a tank chassis
Panzerflak self-propelled gun (3.7 cm) on Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz. 161/3)
Flak tank (2 cm) with Panzer IV chassis (Sd.Kfz. 161/4)
Crusader with 40 mm flak
Crusader III AA II with 20 mm FlaK twin
Crusader with Fla three-of-a-kind
M19
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Cold War
In the Cold War from 1947 to the 1980s, the Western powers, led by the United States of America, and the Soviet Union and its European and Asian satellite states faced each other. According to the ideas of the time, a military conflict would mainly take place in Central Europe . Tank and mechanized infantry units should be used. From the 1950s, both sides also planned the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. The development of self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons was largely shaped by these framework conditions, but also by the technical and economic possibilities available in each case.
Anti-aircraft gun tanks
In the field of self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery, the lines of development that had already emerged in World War II were continued.
Small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons were placed on half-track chassis, but also on wheeled armored vehicles. In the Soviet Union, the BTR-152 A or 152E was developed, in which 14.5 mm KPW machine guns were set as twins or quadruples on the open-topped chassis . The M16 was used in the American armed forces, but also in the German armed forces, in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Israel. A similar vehicle was built in Czechoslovakia with the M53 / 59 Praga . Mobility and simple construction were advantageous, but weapon effect, here in particular the range, and protection no longer met the requirements by the end of the 1950s. The fight against jet aircraft was made more difficult by the lack of electronic reconnaissance and fire control equipment.
The development of larger, heavier and more strongly protected tanks during the Second World War now also made it possible to integrate large-caliber AA armament. The M42 Duster was built in the USA from 1951 and the ZSU-57-2 in the Soviet Union . What both vehicles have in common is that the chassis was developed on the basis of an existing tank. In the M42 this was the M41 light tank , and in the ZSU-57-2 it was the T-54 medium tank . Both systems also have in common the use of a twin weapon in order to increase the hit probability and the effect on the target through the higher rate of fire. The ZSU used the S-68 cannon developed from the 57 mm Flak S-60 with the same caliber, while the M42 used the M2A1 40 mm Bofors automatic cannon . Both systems also showed similar performance data. However, here too the lack of electronic reconnaissance and fire control equipment was problematic. A similar approach was followed in the People's Republic of China with the Type 63 , in which a 37mm anti- aircraft gun twin was placed on the chassis of a T-34 tank .
In the 1950s, advances in the field of electronics made it possible to build anti-aircraft tanks in which reconnaissance, command and control equipment could be accommodated on a vehicle. On the one hand, this increased the mobility of the air defense, but on the other hand, it led to a far higher hit probability. In the Soviet Union, from 1957, the Object 530 was developed as an anti-aircraft tank with two 57 mm cannons, which initially included the Kama complex and later the Volga complex for reconnaissance and fire control . Both complexes combined a radar device with a fire control computer (радиолокационно-приборный комплекс). After a prototype was built in 1958, development was discontinued as the objectives set were easier to achieve with small-caliber weapons. Also from 1957 the ZSU-37-2 Jenissei and the ZSU-23-4 Schilka were developed, which were armed with a 37-mm twin and a 23-mm quadruple gun. Ultimately, the ZSU-23-4 was selected for series production, taken into the armament of the Soviet Army and exported to numerous countries. The weapon effect was initially sufficient. From the mid-1970s against more armored aircraft such as the Fairchild-Republic A-10 , the ZSU-23-4 was only slightly effective. Also had the reach to combat aircraft and attack helicopters , the standoff weapons began, insufficient. Due to the reaction times for technical reasons, a quick target change was not possible when using the reconnaissance radar. This made it much more difficult to combat targets that only appeared briefly. This was significant because from the mid-1980s onwards, NATO introduced attack helicopters and aircraft with precision-guided ammunition and weapon systems that worked on the fire-and-forget principle. Both the lack of inclusion in an automated command network and the relatively high clarity and disruptibility of the ZSU-23-4 due to the radar radiation were deficient.
In the USA, the M163 Vulcan was developed as a vehicle for a similar range of tasks. Here a 20 mm M168 Gatling cannon was used as the main armament. Range and effect in the target were similar to the corresponding values of the ZSU-23-4. However, the vehicle had no search radar, and the operation in the open tower was largely unprotected.
The Gepard anti-aircraft gun tank , developed from 1965 onwards , basically followed the concept of the ZSU-23-4, but with the 35 mm L / 90 automatic cannon Oerlikon-KDA, a significantly more powerful weapon was used. What was new in the Gepard was the use of two separate radars with independently operating antenna systems for reconnaissance and target accompaniment. This enables the cheetah, in contrast to the ZSU-23-4, to continue the reconnaissance of the airspace even while accompanying and fighting the target. The separation also made it possible to design the antenna of the search radar as a truncated parabolic mirror. Its Cosecans² antenna diagram allows the airspace to be searched almost completely when the antenna is rotated 360 °. The American flak tank M247 Sergeant York was constructed in a similar way . Instead of the originally planned 35 mm Oerlikon twin cannon, a 40 mm twin flak from Bofors was used again. The development had become necessary because the range of the M163 in the fight against helicopters using stand-off weapons was insufficient. While the cheetah is considered a successful design and was also exported to Belgium and the Netherlands, after 50 vehicles were built, the M247 project was discontinued in December 1986 due to insurmountable problems and financial bottlenecks. The Japanese Type 87 flak tank introduced in 1987 is also based closely on the design of the Gepard .
A flak tank was also developed in France with the AMX 13 DCA . The "RD515 Œil Noir" target recognition radar with a range of 12 km was used for target acquisition. However, there was no automatic transmission of the target data to the weapons' directional drives. After target acquisition, the gunner had to grasp the target recorded by the radar in his optical viewing device and accompany it, since the targets could only be followed optically and by hand. Meanwhile, the radar was used to measure the distance. The aiming angle and distance were transmitted to the guns via a fire control computer. Overall, this type of fire control was complicated and potentially flawed. Therefore, only a few copies of the AMX-13 DCA were built, a successor was not developed.
The Otomatic anti-aircraft tank developed in Italy, armed with a 76/62 Compact , had fire control and search radar. However, it was not procured by the Italian armed forces for cost reasons. The SIDAM 25 , which was introduced instead , did not have its own radar and was reliant on a radar carried in the battery for reconnaissance and fire control, which restricted mobility.
Overall, at the end of the 1980s, the anti-aircraft tank mounted on a tracked chassis, armed with fast-firing automatic cannons and equipped with its own reconnaissance radar and largely automated fire control system. However, such complex weapon systems made high demands on development and production, so that they were essentially only manufactured in the Soviet Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan. The price, based on the complexity, set limits to the widespread use of such weapon systems.
The Wildcat weapon system, which was presented to the public in 1981, is a specialty , in which an armored wheeled chassis was used. This should reduce operating costs. Search radar and fire control equipment were also available on this anti-aircraft tank. However, no buyers could be found for the system developed by Krauss-Maffei , Siemens, Hollandse Signaal, Mauser, KUKA and AEG.
M3 TCM-20
M53 / 59 Praga
M42 Duster
ZSU-57-2
Type 63
M163 Vulcan
M42 Sergeant York
AMX-13 CDA
SIDAM
Type 87
Anti-aircraft missile tanks
At the end of the 1950s, the developed electronics made it possible to build mobile anti-aircraft missile systems . Examples are the US MIM-23 HAWK and the Soviet anti- aircraft missile systems 2K11 Krug and 2K12 Kub . In the systems developed in the Soviet Union, lightly armored tracked chassis were used to protect the crew not only from fire from hand weapons and fragments but also from bacteriological and chemical warfare agents and radioactive fallout. However, these are not anti-aircraft tanks in the true sense of the word, since reconnaissance, command and control equipment was distributed over several vehicles. The Crotale system, introduced in 1966 , also originally used several vehicles for the various components of the system.
The first Soviet system in which all components could be combined on one vehicle was the 9K33 Osa anti -aircraft missile complex , the development of which was initiated by the American MIM-46 Mauler . While the development of the MIM-46 was stopped due to technical problems, the 9K33 was taken over into the armament of the Soviet Army and exported to numerous countries. Both weapon systems had or have a search radar and thus the possibility of independent electronic reconnaissance. In both cases, the anti-aircraft missiles are also guided by radar. The anti- aircraft missile tank Roland , which was developed in a Franco-German collaboration in the 1970s, also uses a radar device for reconnaissance and guidance of the missile. In addition to various trucks, the chassis of the Marder infantry fighting vehicle , the AMX-30 battle tank and the M109 self-propelled howitzer were used for the various designs. The British Tracked Rapier system combines radar and eight guided missiles on the M548 chassis, which is based on the M113 .
Another conceptual approach was taken with the 9K31 Strela-1 introduced in 1968 . Here, as with the successor 9K35 Strela-10 , infrared-guided anti-aircraft missiles are used. The disadvantage of both vehicles was the lack of, or only limited, possibility of electronic reconnaissance. The MIM-72 Chaparral , which entered service in 1968, follows the same conceptual approach .
Both approaches had different advantages and disadvantages. Infrared-controlled systems are built more compact and therefore more mobile, largely protected against electronic countermeasures and less complex, which reduces development and procurement costs. The disadvantage is the limited ability to provide information and the relatively short range. In contrast, radar-guided anti-aircraft missile systems have a greater range and can be used day and night.
Launch and control station 9A33 of the 9K33 anti-aircraft missile complex
Launch and control station 9A330 of the anti-aircraft missile complex Tor-M1
Roland on chassis Spz Marder
Roland on the chassis of the AMX-30
Roland on chassis M109
Tracked rapier
Launch vehicle 9P31 of the anti-aircraft missile complex 9K31 Strela 1
Launch vehicle 9A35 of the 9K35 Strela 10 anti-aircraft missile complex
MIM-72 Chaparral
.jpg)
Mixed systems
As early as the 1970s, when used in the Soviet Army, the various advantages and disadvantages of the anti-aircraft cannon and anti-aircraft missile tanks that had been introduced became clear. The ZSU-23-4 was able to clear up independently with its radar device and could be used day and night. The disadvantages were the range and, over time, the weapon effect of the 23 mm cannons. The 9K31 Strela 1 had a longer range, but had no reconnaissance equipment and could not be used at night or during the day under certain conditions. When used against the cruise missiles emerging in the 1980s , the probability of hits was low with both systems, but barrages could be fired with the ZSU-23-4 . Efforts to compensate for the existing disadvantages led the Soviet Army and allied armed forces to restructure the anti-aircraft artillery batteries into flaraket artillery batteries, in which the ZSU-23-4 and the 9K31 Strela 1 , later the 9K35 Strela 10 , were used in a mixed manner were.
Ultimately, this led to the development of the 2K22 Tunguska , in which two 30mm 2A38 cannons, eight launchers for radar-guided 9M311 missiles, a search radar and a fire control radar were combined on one vehicle. The weapon system entered service in 1982 and remained the only vehicle of its kind in the world until the late 1980s.
Development from 1990
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From the 1990s, the fight against asymmetrically fighting opponents increased in importance. In contrast, the fight against aircraft, helicopters and cruise missiles took a back seat. This led to a reduction in the role of anti-aircraft tanks worldwide. Newly introduced systems essentially go back to developments from the Cold War era or represent further developments of introduced systems. New developments such as ADATS were in some cases no longer introduced, purchases were reduced and the number of anti-aircraft tanks in service was drastically reduced. The Bundeswehr finally dissolved the Army Air Defense Force completely in 2012 . Conceptually new approaches such as the Medium Extended Air Defense System are increasingly moving away from the concept of the autonomously deployable, protected anti-aircraft tank, have been delayed for a long time and are still a long way from being implemented.
Overall, there is a tendency to install air defense systems on unarmored vehicles. Weapon systems of this kind are lighter, less expensive, sufficiently mobile on the battlefield and can be better relocated by air. The 96K6 Panzir system is produced on various truck chassis. For the protection of facilities and objects against threats from the air, protected vehicles are increasingly being dispensed with; the MANTIS close-range protection system , for example, is a stationary system.
Anti-aircraft gun tanks
Conceptually, the lines of development pursued during the Cold War were continued. The South Korean K30 Biho , the British Marksman and the Polish PZA Loara are anti-aircraft cannon tanks that are conceptually closely based on the Gepard anti-aircraft tank . The Israeli derivative Machbet of the M163 Vulcan uses a 20 mm Gatling cannon like the original, while the Swedish CV 9040AAV uses a 40 mm cannon. The Chinese PGZ95 is again similar to the cheetah , but has four 25 mm automatic cannons . Common to all vehicles is the use of fast-firing automatic cannons as well as radar for reconnaissance and fire control.
K30 Biho
Marksman
PZA Loara
CV9040AAV
Do it
PGZ95
Anti-aircraft missile tanks
The ADATS guided missile system used laser-guided missiles and enabled target acquisition and tracking with radar , TV, infrared ( FLIR ) or residual light amplifiers , but was not introduced in the USA and Switzerland due to a lack of demand , but in small numbers from Canada , Thailand and the United Arab Emirates procured. Other anti-aircraft missile tanks were no longer introduced, with the Romanian CA-95 and the Croatian Strijela - 10CROA1 , the weapon system of the 9K35 Strela 10 was simply placed on a new chassis.
The light air defense system (LeFlaSys) was developed from 1992 and introduced into the Bundeswehr in 2001. Reconnaissance and active agents are distributed over several vehicles. FIM-92 Stinger or 9K38 Igla are used as weapons . With the reconnaissance, command and Feuerleitfahrzeug AFF is a 3-D air surveillance radar HARD ( H elicopter & A irplane R adio D Company etection Radar) Ericsson equipped which destinations up to a distance of 20 km and a height of 5000 Meters. The system components are connected to each other via radio for data exchange. However, this system is no longer an anti-aircraft tank in the classic sense.
ADATS
CA-95
Strijela - 10CROA1
Gun bearer ocelot of the LeFlaSys
AFF of the LeFlaSys
Mixed systems
There were also no new conceptual developments for the mixed anti-aircraft vehicles. The Polish ZSU-23-4MP Biała is a profound modernization of the ZSU-23-4. In addition to the 23 mm cannons, infrared guided anti-aircraft missiles Grom , a derivative of the Soviet 9K38 Igla , are also used here. An active radar system has been completely dispensed with, the target acquisition and accompaniment is purely optical. The analog computer was replaced by a digital computer. The use of new ammunition is said to have increased the range of the 23 mm cannons by 0.5 to 1 km. Poland is procuring around 70 copies because the PZA Loara , which has now been produced, is too expensive.
The M6 Linebacker combines the infrared-guided FIM-92 Stinger with a 25mm automatic cannon. The target acquisition is done optically and computer-assisted.
The Russian system 96K6 Panzir is the successor of the Tunguska and has a similar structure. In addition to various types of trucks, the GM352M1E (ГМ352М1Е) chassis is also offered as a basic vehicle.
The Serbian PASARS system is a completely new development . It combines infrared-guided Wympel R-3 missiles with a 40 mm barrel weapon. A 6 × 6 wheeled vehicle serves as the basis.
ZSU-23-4MP Biała
M6 linebacker
96K6 Panzir
PASARS
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literature
- Александр Широкорад : Отечественные полуавтоматические зенитные пушки in Техника и вооружение , edition 07/1998 (Russian).
- Владимир Розов: Наперегонки с авиацией in Техника и вооружение , edition 07/1998 (Russian).
- М. Свирин: Самоходки Сталина. История советской САУ 1919-194 , publishing house "Яуза" \ "ЭКСМО", 2008 (Russian).
- Walter J. Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its varieties. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-87943-402-6 .
- Wilfried Copenhagen : The land forces of the NVA. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02297-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its variants. P. 114 ff.
- ↑ See Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its variants. P. 109.
- ↑ See Copenhagen: The Land Forces of the NVA.
- ↑ see [1]
- ↑ http://www.idrive.kz/up_img/big_mil_02.jpg ( Memento from December 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ see [2]
- ↑ see: Владимир Розов: Наперегонки с авиацией
- ↑ see Olaf Groehler : History of the Air War 1910 to 1980 , Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic, 1981
- ↑ picture see armourbook.com
- ↑ see [3] (Russian)
- ↑ See, among other things, rocket and weapon technology service in Kdo. MB III, technology catalog, 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun twin on SPW
- ↑ Website of the manufacturer ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Polish)
![[2]](http://de.academic.ru/pictures/technik/large/TL100341.jpg){kind=link}
