ASU-85
Sign in to saveThe ASU-85 ( – airborne self-propelled mount) is a Soviet-designed airborne self-propelled gun of the Cold War era. From 1959, it began to replace the open-topped ASU-57 in service. It was, in turn, replaced by the BMD-1 beginning in 1969.
Key facts
- Weapon.name
- ASU-85
- Weapon.image
- 300px|
- Weapon.caption
- ASU-85 at the exhibition in the Museum. White Eagle in Skarzysko-Kamienna.
- Weapon.origin
- Soviet Union
- Weapon.type
- Assault gun
- Weapon.is_vehicle
- yes
- Weapon.service
- 1959–1993/ 2022-
- Weapon.wars
- Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Soviet–Afghan War Sino-Vietnamese WarRusso-Ukrainian War
- Weapon.designer
- Astrov Design Bureau
- Weapon.design_date
- 19511959
- Weapon.manufacturer
- MMZ PMZ
- Weapon.production_date
- 1959–1966
- Weapon.crew
- 4
- Weapon.weight
- 15.5 tonnes (34,171 lb)
- Weapon.armour
- 4045 mm
- Weapon.primary_armament
- 85 mm main gun D-70 (2A15)
- Weapon.secondary_armament
- 1× 7.62 mm PKT or SGMT coaxial machine gun
- Weapon.engine
- YaMZ-206V 6 cylinder inline water-cooled diesel engine
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
11 sectionsContents
- Development history
- Design
- Service history
- Variants
- Operators
- Current operators
- Former operators
- Surviving vehicles
- References
- Notes
- External links
The ASU-85 ( – airborne self-propelled mount) is a Soviet-designed airborne self-propelled gun of the Cold War era. From 1959, it began to replace the open-topped ASU-57 in service. It was, in turn, replaced by the BMD-1 beginning in 1969.
==Development history== Development of a new assault gun for the armed forces started at the OKB-40 design bureau of the Mytishchi Machine Building Plant (MMZ), under the supervision of chief designer Nikolaj Aleksandrovich Astrov. The first Ob'yekt 573 prototype was ready for factory tests in the second half of 1953. This first vehicle was followed by a small batch of three improved vehicles that were evaluated by the armed forces in 1956–1957. The improved vehicles were powered by a new, horizontal six cylinder diesel engine, the YaMZ-206V, instead of the original V-6 of the PT-76. In 1958, the order to start series production of the SU-85—as it was initially known (although there was already a vehicle with that same name, based on the T-34)—was given. However, as a result of an order from the Ministry of Defense to add an armoured roof (the initial vehicles were still open-topped), series production could only begin in 1961. By then, the configuration was already out of date and in the second half of the 1960s, the VDV became the main operator of the SU-85 and renamed it the ASU-85.