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You can jam radar, you can use anti radiation missiles, but you can't jam the Mk.I eyeball. As long as there are low flying aircraft, this will be useful.
You can "jam" the mk1 eyeball... at night. Dark-adapted vision at night (particularly a moonless night) will be effectively jammed by bright flares being dropped as the human eye is "washed out" by looking at bright light sources. In the failed helicopter attack on Karbala the operation was delayed until after the moonrise and it doesn't seem they used any flares to "jam" the mk-1 eyeball. In infantry operations at night flares are dropped on the enemy to both illuminate the enemy and "jam" their night vision.
The eyeballs are fragile, and easily be blinded. Even when the eyeballs can see, the range is too limited. Which means it is too late. The gun itself is good, but if without an equally good searching, tracking, and aiming system, it's useless against 21st century flying threads. The current war in Ukraine shows it.
There's a reason that for many years the standard protection level of Western APCs was described as "good against 14.5mm" and the Israeli Blazer add-on armor was advertised as being good enough that "14.5mm rounds will not penetrate to the main armor."
It's worth keeping in mind that weapon systems like the ZPU were responsible for the loss of multiple AH-64 Apaches during the March 24, 2003 attack on Karbala, Iraq. 31 Apaches went into an area with basically nothing more than some ground-based small arms and air defense (PKMs, DShks, ZPUs, ZU-23s, and S-60s - one Apache pilot was even struck in the neck by an AKM bullet) and every single one of them was damaged, two were shot down, and it was only a small miracle that more Apaches weren't lost and no serviceman lost their life that day. It might not be useful against modern jet aircraft, but helicopters? Helicopters are still *_very_* vulnerable to something like a ZPU suddenly turning the sky into 14.5mm lead rain. And they are small enough and mobile enough to be hidden virtually anywhere or on the back of a small Toyota truck.
It wouldn't be that difficult to upgrade these weapons with improved electro optical/laser range finders/powered traverse and elevation/night vision devices etc and connect them to external radar and fire control systems in batteries of 6-12-18+. The combined firepower of 12-18 quad barrel 14.5mm, with central guidance and fire control would be very effective low level air defence units.
@@simonyip5978 "It wouldn't be that difficult to upgrade these weapons with improved electro optical/laser range finders/powered traverse and elevation/night vision devices etc" That much is true, and IRST/EOTS have certainly come a long way in a short amount of time and are still improving and becoming more commonplace/prevalent. And they have been used before in ground-based air defense systems with guns, like the Pantsir system. The problems are, if you are capable of only affording some ZPU that you "found" somewhere and bolting it (sometimes not even bolting it) into the back of a Toyota - you don't have the money or likely a source to get such a system. And if you do have the money for such fire control systems, you're going to spend it on something with more range and capability than a 14.5mm. There's also the issue that the reason IRST/EOTS is gaining so much popularity is because it's fantastic when used in the sky where curvature of the earth isn't much of an issue and where geological obstructions also aren't much of an issue. That can't be said for being the ground. Even if you put your system on a tall building or hill/mountain - you're still not going to be able to see anywhere near as far as an aircraft with even the same system you have due to the curvature of the earth. The aircraft flying at 20,000+ feet just has more viewing distance than you do. "and connect them to external radar and fire control systems in batteries of 6-12-18+." ...This I'm not so sure about. Connecting to a IADS and FCS? Sure, that's been done for ages. Tying it to external radar? ...Eh... No, I find that doubtful. Converting IRST/EOTS data to something that radar can track or search just doesn't seem like something that would be easily doable, if at all. Radar could help with getting the IRST/EOTS to search/track with knowing the direction, but the other way around isn't going to be much use. After all - an IRST/EOTS could detect a low-observable "stealth" aircraft when your search/track radar is literally incapable of detecting it at that range.
Karbala was a misuse of helicopters, they were charging off on deep penetration operations far more suited to the USAF. In fact the USAF was performing the role of SEAD but poor inter-branch communication led to a failure to coordinate with the Apaches that arrived with no air suppression. The Gulf War established how well suited strike jets were for destroying enemy tanks. The reason the US army has helicopter gunships and the USAF doesn't is that the Army is supposed to use their helicopters in close concert with their ground forces, helicopters are much more suited to operating closely with ground forces as it's far easier to make an FOB for a helicopter to refuel+rearm, also helicopters can loiter very closely to ground forces. It's "Combined Arms Doctrine" 101. Helicopters are great as a far more reactive force, if the Medina Division had decided to do a blitzkrieg style charge then the Apaches would have been the Army's ideal response, helicopters can quickly move to the ideal position to fire ATGMs on tanks advancing without dug in and camouflaged air defences. In the battle of Nasiriyah that was happening at almost the same time the A-10s operated by the USAF/Air-National-Guard were strafing Marines in strikes that led to complete failures where the A-10 "helped". In contrast, USMC Abrams and USMC Cobra helicopters worked closely together to push through at key strongpoints.
What you have called "Later ZPU-2 model" had name ZU-2 (don't confuse with ZU-23-2) and was produced since 1955. And there was one more single-barrel version - ZGU-1. It was very light - 200 kg (comparing to 450 kg of ZPU-1) and could be disassembled into multiple parts, not heavier than 40 kg each, so they could be carried in back packs. It was developed in 1967 and most of them were delivered to Vietnam forces. ZPUs/ZU/ZGU were effective even without shooting down aircraft, as they forced pilots of enemy aircrafts to higher altitudes, where bombing was less accurate and effective. Also there were 2 models that could fire only to the ground targets - PKP (1949) and SKP (1955). Sorry for my English, I tried my best.
ZPU and it's style of weapons are actually getting a new life in the drone centric world of modern warfare. Drones are a problem for classic, missile based AA systems meant to detect and destroy high value targets like jets and helicopters. Their radars are tuned to detect those. Guns like ZPU can be paired with drone tuned radar, and some software, that can give cost effective anti drone defense.
ЗПУ-14.5-4. Моя служба только-только начиналась и в учебке одна оставалась на хранении. Мы на ней как на карусели любили кататься. А что нам было то?..... По 19-лет!
A cost-effective option to use in air defense and against ground units! I wonder why the Western armies do not consider cheap alternatives like the ZPU. Thank you for the video.
During WWII, the US did have the M45 Quadmount 50 Caliber available in a ground mount, and on the M3 halftrack and was effective enough that German strike fighters simply avoided the area where they were reported, and in Korea it was found to be effective against human wave attack. With the introduction of jet aircraft the M45 was no longer considered effective as the rate of weapon yaw was simply not fast enough to track jet powered aircraft. Its replacement was the Vulcan Air Defense System using the 20mm Vulcan rotary cannon, with its high rate of fire providing a better hit probability, and was equipped with a range only radar feeding into the the fire control system of the mount. The mobile system mounted into a M-113 APC was used mostly for ground support during the Gulf War, as the Iraq air force refused to come out and play
Because Western armies have really good air-forces that can routinely achieve total air supremacy. So the only relevance of a ZPU would be in direct fire against ground targets, western armies have weapons like GAU-19 which have the same firepower as a ZPU-2 but with such greater accuracy they can be as effective as the 4-barrelled ZPU-4 but at far lower weight they can be mounted on top of a humvee rather can towed as a trailer.
Служил на ЗПУ-4 (ГСВГ,1966-1968 гг.). По броникам,машинам,другим установкам,вертолётам,катерам...вполне работать может и сейчас...найдутся цели и в самой современной войне.
@@DimitrijsZdanovsДа примерно столько. Но в России в армию призывают с 18 лет, так что может быть 1949-50 года рождения.Кстати ГСВГ - это была группа войск в Германии
В 1966-ом году, призывали в 19 лет, на 3 года службы,... с 1967-го года, призывали с 18-ти лет, на 2 года службы. Я служил 2 года 2 месяца... тогда переход на двухгодичную службу, был довольно "весёлый", кто-то и более трёх служил, кто два с половиной. Мой призыв, в ГСВГ, думал задержут с дембелем, потому что началась "заварухе" с Чехословакией... но, повезло, дембельнули во время. Такие дела.
The Portuguese Air Force had to face this system in Guinea Bissau in the late sixties. It was quite probably the most feared and effective anti aircraft weapon in the hands of the PAIGC, which used the quadruple model. It's only drawback was that the enemy insisted in always building snail like earth revettements for it; although they provided protection, their lighter shade of earth was extremely easy to spot from the air and promptly bombed. But this was no less dangerous and the PAIGC gunners were said to be absolutely fearless; they stayed at their battle stations and returned fire until suppressing the threat or being blown out. Our only capable combat aircraft there was the Fiat G-91 R/4, armed with four .50 Browning machine guns and carrying a rather light load of about 1800 kgs of free fall bombs. A few were actually shot down by the ZPUs, others by SAM -7. These were dangerous missions.
I admire your channel because you are a person who deals professionally and without discrimination towards any party. Another reason is the possibility of Arabic translation
the russian anti-aircraft canonn is used for third world countries with low defence budget. the caliber is14.50mm. this system is used in many rols. anti-aircraft and anti-personnel in the dismounted infantry advance.
:)) I was a part commander of the Romanian MR-4 version and it is not inefficient, it depends a lot on the crew and especially on the eye and rangefinder, the Romanian version had a Swedish fire corrector much more accurate than the Soviet one for ground targets it's a devastating weapon, you can even shoot the MBT with it if you fire at the side of the Tank supported with 2 barrels or with all 4 you can pierce it but only at a distance of 1000m, we're not talking about those transporters they're easy prey🤣
@@nonyabeeznuss304 they were probably a little inexperienced servants, and it was about a single weapon, not a 2x14/5 or 4x14.5installation, because a double or quadruple system would have sprayed everything. each piece fires 150 shots at 2 pieces, 300 shots at 4 pieces150x4 :)) 600 shots per minute, you were lucky🤣
@@leomarin2205 We jumped into a nearby irrigation ditch and hit it with a javelin missile. We were lucky because they were about 1 km away, and yes, probably untrained. I will say though, being on foot patrol and suddenly everything in front of, behind, and to the left and right just lights up like a christmas tree... Lets just say it was a good thing US Marines wear brown pants 🤣 We were lucky they got excited and didn't wait until we were closer. (Then again, allowing Marines to get close is probably a bad idea too)
A ZPU type weapon really the one thing missing from the west’s light crew served weapon arsenal. Something with much more punch than a M2 .50 cal, but light enough to be mounted on virtually any military vehicle heavier than a staff car.
Watched tons of video from Syria the past 5 years. They appear to use the ZPU in two general categories. Static for base or area defense overlooking miles of flat ground, and mounted on Toyota pickups to move around in towns or mobile ambushing. The Arabs don't focus much on preventive maintenance whether its guns or vehicles, so it amazing that old Soviet hardware can still work. But there's so much Soviet hardware laying around the Middle East and Africa, if a machine breaks beyond repair just get another one, its not hard to do. The Arabs don't use much truly sophisticated stuff as they lack the mindset. The US military found that out in Iraq. They won't even check the engine oil much less change it, unless an American was watching over them to make sure they did their job. The Iranians are a bit different as they're not Arabs but Persians. I know they hate being called Arabs so I try to watch my words. Myself I wouldn't like to be called a Russian, being northwest European/Saxon/British Isles.
@@LuvBorderCollies Speaking of Arabs, it's unbelievable how much the Turks hate being referred to as Arabs even though they are similar in appearance, they have shared the territory throughout history and both have the same variant of Ishlam. Unlike Persians who are entirely different civilization, with roots stretching back much earlier in history than both Turks and Arabs.
That's the GAU-19. Same fire rate as the 2-barrel variant of the ZPU and can be mounted on a Humvee. Not as high a fire rate as the 4-barrel ZPU, but the 4 barrel ZPU is a massive weapon towed on a 4-wheel mount or loaded on the flatbed of a 5-ton truck. The GAU-19 firing at 20 shots/sec should be enough for all direct fire needs. If 20 shots per second isn't enough, it's because the weapon's accuracy is far too low or your sensors are so poor you cannot actually see the enemy and are trying to spread the fire thinly over a large area the enemy could be. The western standard is to SEE the enemy and HIT the enemy which is not a bad standard. A bigger gun that misses faster is not a better weapon. One reason the 1300rpm GAU-19 has not caught on is that the 600rpm M2HB is in fact sufficient when you have good sensors to aim at the enemy and not just a general area the enemy might be and with accuracy to hit what you're aiming at within about 10 shots.
Question is, what are you going to engage with it? Helicopters, sure, but it takes a lot of 14.5x114mm to take down modern attack helicopters, SHORAD/MANPADS can do the job much more quickly. Ground targets? Mortars, AGLs, RPGs, and recoilless rifles do a better job. In 2022 its best niche is shooting down cheap drones, but 14.5x114 is in a weird spot where it's too heavy/OP for direct hits but too small for proximity fuses and explosive payloads. That's why most militaries with money go with 12.7mm for cheap lead spam and 20/23/25/30mm for serious anti-aircraft work.
@@hailexiao2770 A military base with ZPUs covering all approaches would be a serious obstacle to attacking ground troops. With an effective range of 3km it can be placed well beyond the range of rifle and RPG fire while still doing damage to the advancing troops. I wouldn't sneer at the ZPU just yet.
Too nice video about ZPU family of Soviet made machine guns as air defense systems for low ultittude usages also its useful for land troops usages especially in MiddleEast region by former armies & militias...video clearly explained its characteristics in addition of its historical backgrounds..thanks (weapon detective) channel for sharing this excellent video about ZPU FAMILY
One of my uncles who flew Hueys in VN mentioned getting shot at by this weapon. Major league pucker factor. He was in the middle of the Ia Drang mess in Nov 1965 but I don't think he encountered it there. Think it was later in 68-69 when he was sent back following Tet as the NVA was more "established" in VN.
Love these videos, but could you attach some sound bites from the weapons too. It would make videos more visceral if we could hear those four barrels in action.
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The main selling point of the KPV/ZPU system is the muzzle energy. 30-33 kJ, much greater than a 12.7 mm round. 12.7x108 mm : 16-19 kJ, 12.7x99 mm (.50 BMG) 18-20 kJ.
I asked for the "in-factory ZPU 2 pack" while i was buying one Toyota Pickup for our bussines. The salesman stared at me with no idea of what i was talking about. Of course i replied: "It's obvious you don't like war technique, don't you?. After that i explained the story about Totoya Pickup and ZPU. He was amazed of that.
I saw a video a good bit of years back of a US convoy with MRAPs and humvees being shot by one of these in Afghan, i thought it was a PKM machine gun nest with the amount of bullets that were flying , it was literally just one of the double barrel variant of this set up on a hill.
the most widely used and numerous ground combat vehicle of the modern age is The Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series! I love your job! I already LIKE before starting the videos because I know it will be very good! greetings from Brazil
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During the last phase of civil war in Sri Lanka the LTTE used ZPU-4s against government forces. They were usually positioned near high value targets. Our airforce MiG-27s had several encounters with this weapon system and even used against ground troops with devastating effect.
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wish you continuous success . A very beautiful and wonderful work that deserves admiration and all appreciation. Never stop.. It would be great if all your works are translated into Arabic. I wish you well and happiness. Thank you for your exceptional and distinguished effort in presenting this very beautiful work
The ZPU - 4 was to be used like the 20 mm Flak Vierling, in which two cannons fired while the other two cooled, or as per doctrine the four machine guns were fired simultaneously?
Gear spring (leaf spring) Horizontal gear Firing the trigger unlocks the gear, which drops the sear, releases the hammer, firing the gun, and charging the hammer. That motion, sends the gear connected to the trigger, to an unlocked position, so the recoil charging the hammer bumps the gear into the other sear, which unlocks and fires, charging the hammer. That motion, bounces the gear back in the direction of the first sear, firing and charging, which bounces the gear to the other sear, and this keeps happening, sear, bounce, other sear, bounce sear, bounce, other sear, until the trigger is released, allowing the gear to gall into a notch below, advancing it one position. The gear is a wheel, every trigger pull advances 1 position, but holding, allows it to bounce between 2. Mechanical power. Electric gear works also. That's for 2 barrels, for 4, twin link, and time opposite.
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The gun itself is good, but if without an equally good searching, tracking, and aiming system, it's useless against modern flying threads. Even the guns from 120 years ago are still good. For example, the Mauser 98 and Mosin Nagant 91 rifles in one form or another are still being used in current wars. The limiting fact is aiming.
There’s something oddly funny to me about the sheer number of places old Soviet weapons and equipment turn up. Throw a dart at a map of the world and chances are pretty high that wherever it lands, there will at the very least be a good number of small arms floating around. Hell, even in the USA the Mosin and SKS are pretty easy to find.
The ZPU as well as the 14.5 mm KPV is a versatile machine gun with high combat effectiveness. The Soviets as well as the Chinese made it a lot, other military forces also used it very popularly like the 12.7 mm DshK. It is quite dangerous and extremely formidable when it can destroy infantry and light vehicles, not to mention helicopters and low-flying aircraft that can fall victim to it. It is a "king" of guerrilla warfare.
It’s simple and rugged design makes it ideal as a low cost yet high yield weapon system making them highly deadly towards low and slow flying aircraft like say an A10 warthog or an Apache helicopter, but if needed them lower the barrel and you have a highly effective anti infantry weapon capable of punching through any and all body armor along with most of the cover the unfortunate sod found themselves behind and if the round didn’t go through them it would simply have enough force to plant your two cheeks firmly on the ground, as for other targets soft skin vehicles like trucks or even humvees would be cut to ribbons and even things like main battle tanks could and can be destroyed if placed on a high enough elevation and sufficient downwards angle to shoot the tank from above punching straight through the roof and into the engine bay or into the crew, unlike the 20mm round despite being slightly smaller it’s nothing to laugh at, and again their main selling point is that they’re cheap, so it’s not just one of these you have to worry about it’s two or three of these working in unison and again unlike most modern systems which are radar guided which in turn gives away the guns position, the thing being manually operated can more or less stay hidden from enemy radar or satellite if hidden well enough until the lead starts to fly, not only that but the thing can be wirelessly operated of push came to shove via a remote control and a camera, and some motors, but I doubt that’ll be the case, other problems is that the frame as show is sufficiently light weight enough two or more men can simply drag it into position or be easily bolted onto the top of a tank or the back of a flatbed truck
It's also more suitable to be mounted on pickup trucks. While the ZSU-23-2 fire a more powerful caliber shell, it's really stretching the limit of a Toyota pickup. When firing sideways, the 23 mm twin cannons simply create too much recoil for a pickup truck to handle, limiting the guns to short bursts only. But the lower recoil of the ZPU allows it to be mounted on a pickup truck and still capable of sustained fire in all directions.
Really isn't analogous because it's a video game, but one of the most fun I had was in Squad as insurgents and a tigr 4x4 rolled up on me while I was mounting a zpu-2. It didn't last being 5 meters away.
Do remember that recently de-classed docs show that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was faked. I am super jelly of those Syrian Land Cruisers tho. I want one.
Excellent video. I love the scenes from the Russian movie The Dawns Here Are Quiet. But I don't understand. There is some footage from Ukraine. Is the ZPU already used in the war?
If you monitor the enemy lanes of entry and exit they like to frequent,you can set up overlapping rings of fire on their way in and out, aa isn't about knocking down aircrafts as much as it's a area denial weopan, Medevacs have to be done further out,shooting accurately goes down becautthey are forced to shoot munitions from further out (rockets that aren't guided and cannons etc) and planes are forced to fly higher,one lucky hit .....and you never know man
I've always like the look of the ZPUs all the variants 2 barrels, 4 barrels, towed, mounted what ever...seems like these would end up on the roofs of buildings to do a little drone skeet shooting around cities in Ukraine and/or clustered in areas on the out skirts of cities in the general direction they come from keeping an ear and an eye out for those loud ass flying lawn mower engines
In the next episode of legendary weapons... the old warfighter's son enters the fray... join us to see how the next generation of soviet AAA the ZSU23 continued the reputation of ZPU family...
I'd hate to be in a Huey when a jungle hillside a few hundred yards away suddenly bursts in the 4-barrel wrath of a hidden ZPU... And then the hill on the other side erupts with another.
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ZPU is a license Subsidiary of Toyata.
Why do you say Eye-Ran given that you're Turkish and obviously know the correct pronunciation of Iran?
You can jam radar, you can use anti radiation missiles, but you can't jam the Mk.I eyeball. As long as there are low flying aircraft, this will be useful.
You can "jam" the mk1 eyeball... at night.
Dark-adapted vision at night (particularly a moonless night) will be effectively jammed by bright flares being dropped as the human eye is "washed out" by looking at bright light sources. In the failed helicopter attack on Karbala the operation was delayed until after the moonrise and it doesn't seem they used any flares to "jam" the mk-1 eyeball.
In infantry operations at night flares are dropped on the enemy to both illuminate the enemy and "jam" their night vision.
The eyeballs are fragile, and easily be blinded. Even when the eyeballs can see, the range is too limited. Which means it is too late. The gun itself is good, but if without an equally good searching, tracking, and aiming system, it's useless against 21st century flying threads. The current war in Ukraine shows it.
you can also use one of this monting whit a infrared sigth and a balsitic computer
Ever heard of flashbangs?
@@ichimonjiguy Flying "threads"of 21 st century??
🤣🤣🤣
There's a reason that for many years the standard protection level of Western APCs was described as "good against 14.5mm" and the Israeli Blazer add-on armor was advertised as being good enough that "14.5mm rounds will not penetrate to the main armor."
It's worth keeping in mind that weapon systems like the ZPU were responsible for the loss of multiple AH-64 Apaches during the March 24, 2003 attack on Karbala, Iraq. 31 Apaches went into an area with basically nothing more than some ground-based small arms and air defense (PKMs, DShks, ZPUs, ZU-23s, and S-60s - one Apache pilot was even struck in the neck by an AKM bullet) and every single one of them was damaged, two were shot down, and it was only a small miracle that more Apaches weren't lost and no serviceman lost their life that day. It might not be useful against modern jet aircraft, but helicopters? Helicopters are still *_very_* vulnerable to something like a ZPU suddenly turning the sky into 14.5mm lead rain. And they are small enough and mobile enough to be hidden virtually anywhere or on the back of a small Toyota truck.
THIS IS WHY i BUY TOYOTA CARS AND TRUCKS, GOOD QUALITY.
It wouldn't be that difficult to upgrade these weapons with improved electro optical/laser range finders/powered traverse and elevation/night vision devices etc and connect them to external radar and fire control systems in batteries of 6-12-18+.
The combined firepower of 12-18 quad barrel 14.5mm, with central guidance and fire control would be very effective low level air defence units.
@@simonyip5978
"It wouldn't be that difficult to upgrade these weapons with improved electro optical/laser range finders/powered traverse and elevation/night vision devices etc"
That much is true, and IRST/EOTS have certainly come a long way in a short amount of time and are still improving and becoming more commonplace/prevalent. And they have been used before in ground-based air defense systems with guns, like the Pantsir system.
The problems are, if you are capable of only affording some ZPU that you "found" somewhere and bolting it (sometimes not even bolting it) into the back of a Toyota - you don't have the money or likely a source to get such a system. And if you do have the money for such fire control systems, you're going to spend it on something with more range and capability than a 14.5mm.
There's also the issue that the reason IRST/EOTS is gaining so much popularity is because it's fantastic when used in the sky where curvature of the earth isn't much of an issue and where geological obstructions also aren't much of an issue. That can't be said for being the ground. Even if you put your system on a tall building or hill/mountain - you're still not going to be able to see anywhere near as far as an aircraft with even the same system you have due to the curvature of the earth. The aircraft flying at 20,000+ feet just has more viewing distance than you do.
"and connect them to external radar and fire control systems in batteries of 6-12-18+."
...This I'm not so sure about. Connecting to a IADS and FCS? Sure, that's been done for ages. Tying it to external radar? ...Eh... No, I find that doubtful. Converting IRST/EOTS data to something that radar can track or search just doesn't seem like something that would be easily doable, if at all. Radar could help with getting the IRST/EOTS to search/track with knowing the direction, but the other way around isn't going to be much use. After all - an IRST/EOTS could detect a low-observable "stealth" aircraft when your search/track radar is literally incapable of detecting it at that range.
Toy toy toy Toyota, for the discerning insurgent.
Karbala was a misuse of helicopters, they were charging off on deep penetration operations far more suited to the USAF. In fact the USAF was performing the role of SEAD but poor inter-branch communication led to a failure to coordinate with the Apaches that arrived with no air suppression. The Gulf War established how well suited strike jets were for destroying enemy tanks.
The reason the US army has helicopter gunships and the USAF doesn't is that the Army is supposed to use their helicopters in close concert with their ground forces, helicopters are much more suited to operating closely with ground forces as it's far easier to make an FOB for a helicopter to refuel+rearm, also helicopters can loiter very closely to ground forces. It's "Combined Arms Doctrine" 101.
Helicopters are great as a far more reactive force, if the Medina Division had decided to do a blitzkrieg style charge then the Apaches would have been the Army's ideal response, helicopters can quickly move to the ideal position to fire ATGMs on tanks advancing without dug in and camouflaged air defences.
In the battle of Nasiriyah that was happening at almost the same time the A-10s operated by the USAF/Air-National-Guard were strafing Marines in strikes that led to complete failures where the A-10 "helped". In contrast, USMC Abrams and USMC Cobra helicopters worked closely together to push through at key strongpoints.
What you have called "Later ZPU-2 model" had name ZU-2 (don't confuse with ZU-23-2) and was produced since 1955. And there was one more single-barrel version - ZGU-1. It was very light - 200 kg (comparing to 450 kg of ZPU-1) and could be disassembled into multiple parts, not heavier than 40 kg each, so they could be carried in back packs. It was developed in 1967 and most of them were delivered to Vietnam forces. ZPUs/ZU/ZGU were effective even without shooting down aircraft, as they forced pilots of enemy aircrafts to higher altitudes, where bombing was less accurate and effective. Also there were 2 models that could fire only to the ground targets - PKP (1949) and SKP (1955). Sorry for my English, I tried my best.
That ZPU on a Ferret is so freaking cool!!!
loving all thse ludecrously exposed top heavy pintle/mast mounts on some of those vehicles. must be very prone to tipping over during firing LOL.
ZPU and it's style of weapons are actually getting a new life in the drone centric world of modern warfare. Drones are a problem for classic, missile based AA systems meant to detect and destroy high value targets like jets and helicopters. Their radars are tuned to detect those. Guns like ZPU can be paired with drone tuned radar, and some software, that can give cost effective anti drone defense.
absolutely true - weapons of that class survived long enough to get back their AA role
A ZPU-2 on a Toyota back, with a adequate night optic, could be an reliable and budget anti drone weapon
ЗПУ-14.5-4. Моя служба только-только начиналась и в учебке одна оставалась на хранении. Мы на ней как на карусели любили кататься. А что нам было то?..... По 19-лет!
A cost-effective option to use in air defense and against ground units! I wonder why the Western armies do not consider cheap alternatives like the ZPU. Thank you for the video.
Military industrial complex.
During WWII, the US did have the M45 Quadmount 50 Caliber available in a ground mount, and on the M3 halftrack and was effective enough that German strike fighters simply avoided the area where they were reported, and in Korea it was found to be effective against human wave attack. With the introduction of jet aircraft the M45 was no longer considered effective as the rate of weapon yaw was simply not fast enough to track jet powered aircraft.
Its replacement was the Vulcan Air Defense System using the 20mm Vulcan rotary cannon, with its high rate of fire providing a better hit probability, and was equipped with a range only radar feeding into the the fire control system of the mount. The mobile system mounted into a M-113 APC was used mostly for ground support during the Gulf War, as the Iraq air force refused to come out and play
Because they rich country
Because Western armies have really good air-forces that can routinely achieve total air supremacy.
So the only relevance of a ZPU would be in direct fire against ground targets, western armies have weapons like GAU-19 which have the same firepower as a ZPU-2 but with such greater accuracy they can be as effective as the 4-barrelled ZPU-4 but at far lower weight they can be mounted on top of a humvee rather can towed as a trailer.
@@homijbhabha8860 Oh look, you managed to pick up a media buzzword.
Служил на ЗПУ-4 (ГСВГ,1966-1968 гг.). По броникам,машинам,другим установкам,вертолётам,катерам...вполне работать может и сейчас...найдутся цели и в самой современной войне.
Wow. How old are you?
Probably 75 years old. May be date of birth nearly 1948.
@@DimitrijsZdanovsДа примерно столько. Но в России в армию призывают с 18 лет, так что может быть 1949-50 года рождения.Кстати ГСВГ - это была группа войск в Германии
В 1966-ом году, призывали в 19 лет, на 3 года службы,... с 1967-го года, призывали с 18-ти лет, на 2 года службы.
Я служил 2 года 2 месяца... тогда переход на двухгодичную службу, был довольно "весёлый", кто-то и более трёх служил, кто два с половиной.
Мой призыв, в ГСВГ, думал задержут с дембелем, потому что началась "заварухе" с Чехословакией... но, повезло, дембельнули во время. Такие дела.
1947 год рождения.
Very in-depth analysis of a great soviet era weapon. Nice video!
The Portuguese Air Force had to face this system in Guinea Bissau in the late sixties. It was quite probably the most feared and effective anti aircraft weapon in the hands of the PAIGC, which used the quadruple model. It's only drawback was that the enemy insisted in always building snail like earth revettements for it; although they provided protection, their lighter shade of earth was extremely easy to spot from the air and promptly bombed. But this was no less dangerous and the PAIGC gunners were said to be absolutely fearless; they stayed at their battle stations and returned fire until suppressing the threat or being blown out. Our only capable combat aircraft there was the Fiat G-91 R/4, armed with four .50 Browning machine guns and carrying a rather light load of about 1800 kgs of free fall bombs. A few were actually shot down by the ZPUs, others by SAM -7. These were dangerous missions.
I admire your channel because you are a person who deals professionally and without discrimination towards any party. Another reason is the possibility of Arabic translation
the russian anti-aircraft canonn is used for third world countries with low defence budget. the caliber is14.50mm. this system is used in many rols. anti-aircraft and anti-personnel in the dismounted infantry advance.
Toyota Truck + ZPU = Technically Technical
Deadly combination
The ZPU is the AK equivalent for heavy MG/light AA gun, they are everywhere and despite their age can still kick some serious butts
:)) I was a part commander of the Romanian MR-4 version and it is not inefficient, it depends a lot on the crew and especially on the eye and rangefinder, the Romanian version had a Swedish fire corrector much more accurate than the Soviet one for ground targets it's a devastating weapon, you can even shoot the MBT with it if you fire at the side of the Tank supported with 2 barrels or with all 4 you can pierce it but only at a distance of 1000m, we're not talking about those transporters they're easy prey🤣
Damn you Romanians are hard hitters.
In afghanistan my unit came under fire from one mounted on a pickup truck. It was an experience that can best be described as a shitstorm.
@@nonyabeeznuss304 they were probably a little inexperienced servants, and it was about a single weapon, not a 2x14/5 or 4x14.5installation, because a double or quadruple system would have sprayed everything. each piece fires 150 shots at 2 pieces, 300 shots at 4 pieces150x4 :)) 600 shots per minute, you were lucky🤣
@@nonyabeeznuss304 ua-cam.com/video/ScXVN8L-g7s/v-deo.html chinez version
@@leomarin2205 We jumped into a nearby irrigation ditch and hit it with a javelin missile. We were lucky because they were about 1 km away, and yes, probably untrained. I will say though, being on foot patrol and suddenly everything in front of, behind, and to the left and right just lights up like a christmas tree... Lets just say it was a good thing US Marines wear brown pants 🤣
We were lucky they got excited and didn't wait until we were closer. (Then again, allowing Marines to get close is probably a bad idea too)
A ZPU type weapon really the one thing missing from the west’s light crew served weapon arsenal. Something with much more punch than a M2 .50 cal, but light enough to be mounted on virtually any military vehicle heavier than a staff car.
Watched tons of video from Syria the past 5 years. They appear to use the ZPU in two general categories. Static for base or area defense overlooking miles of flat ground, and mounted on Toyota pickups to move around in towns or mobile ambushing. The Arabs don't focus much on preventive maintenance whether its guns or vehicles, so it amazing that old Soviet hardware can still work. But there's so much Soviet hardware laying around the Middle East and Africa, if a machine breaks beyond repair just get another one, its not hard to do.
The Arabs don't use much truly sophisticated stuff as they lack the mindset. The US military found that out in Iraq. They won't even check the engine oil much less change it, unless an American was watching over them to make sure they did their job.
The Iranians are a bit different as they're not Arabs but Persians. I know they hate being called Arabs so I try to watch my words. Myself I wouldn't like to be called a Russian, being northwest European/Saxon/British Isles.
@@LuvBorderCollies
Speaking of Arabs, it's unbelievable how much the Turks hate being referred to as Arabs even though they are similar in appearance, they have shared the territory throughout history and both have the same variant of Ishlam. Unlike Persians who are entirely different civilization, with roots stretching back much earlier in history than both Turks and Arabs.
That's the GAU-19.
Same fire rate as the 2-barrel variant of the ZPU and can be mounted on a Humvee.
Not as high a fire rate as the 4-barrel ZPU, but the 4 barrel ZPU is a massive weapon towed on a 4-wheel mount or loaded on the flatbed of a 5-ton truck. The GAU-19 firing at 20 shots/sec should be enough for all direct fire needs.
If 20 shots per second isn't enough, it's because the weapon's accuracy is far too low or your sensors are so poor you cannot actually see the enemy and are trying to spread the fire thinly over a large area the enemy could be. The western standard is to SEE the enemy and HIT the enemy which is not a bad standard. A bigger gun that misses faster is not a better weapon.
One reason the 1300rpm GAU-19 has not caught on is that the 600rpm M2HB is in fact sufficient when you have good sensors to aim at the enemy and not just a general area the enemy might be and with accuracy to hit what you're aiming at within about 10 shots.
Question is, what are you going to engage with it? Helicopters, sure, but it takes a lot of 14.5x114mm to take down modern attack helicopters, SHORAD/MANPADS can do the job much more quickly. Ground targets? Mortars, AGLs, RPGs, and recoilless rifles do a better job. In 2022 its best niche is shooting down cheap drones, but 14.5x114 is in a weird spot where it's too heavy/OP for direct hits but too small for proximity fuses and explosive payloads. That's why most militaries with money go with 12.7mm for cheap lead spam and 20/23/25/30mm for serious anti-aircraft work.
@@hailexiao2770 A military base with ZPUs covering all approaches would be a serious obstacle to attacking ground troops. With an effective range of 3km it can be placed well beyond the range of rifle and RPG fire while still doing damage to the advancing troops. I wouldn't sneer at the ZPU just yet.
Turkish accent detected :) Güzel kanal, thumbs up.
Too nice video about ZPU family of Soviet made machine guns as air defense systems for low ultittude usages also its useful for land troops usages especially in MiddleEast region by former armies & militias...video clearly explained its characteristics in addition of its historical backgrounds..thanks (weapon detective) channel for sharing this excellent video about ZPU FAMILY
Very nice report. You and the ZPU's have covered a lot of ground. Thanks for the video and information.
One of my uncles who flew Hueys in VN mentioned getting shot at by this weapon. Major league pucker factor. He was in the middle of the Ia Drang mess in Nov 1965 but I don't think he encountered it there. Think it was later in 68-69 when he was sent back following Tet as the NVA was more "established" in VN.
Love these videos, but could you attach some sound bites from the weapons too. It would make videos more visceral if we could hear those four barrels in action.
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brilliantly video!!
The main selling point of the KPV/ZPU system is the muzzle energy. 30-33 kJ, much greater than a 12.7 mm round. 12.7x108 mm : 16-19 kJ, 12.7x99 mm (.50 BMG) 18-20 kJ.
I asked for the "in-factory ZPU 2 pack" while i was buying one Toyota Pickup for our bussines. The salesman stared at me with no idea of what i was talking about. Of course i replied: "It's obvious you don't like war technique, don't you?.
After that i explained the story about Totoya Pickup and ZPU. He was amazed of that.
I never had so many numbers through at me all at once. Sometime, I wished Weapon Detective had a simplified version.
definitelly the best household appliance
Very comprehensive. Excellent work. Thank you.
JAI HIND 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳
Never disappointed to see this channel..Always get something new to learn..
Kindly make video on C 17 globemaster...
Very cool, in a Mad Max way. 🤪
Great info.
Great informative video. Keep it up! 👍
I saw a video a good bit of years back of a US convoy with MRAPs and humvees being shot by one of these in Afghan, i thought it was a PKM machine gun nest with the amount of bullets that were flying , it was literally just one of the double barrel variant of this set up on a hill.
the most widely used and numerous ground combat vehicle of the modern age is The Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series! I love your job! I already LIKE before starting the videos because I know it will be very good! greetings from Brazil
9:42
Not so MIGHTY with the right tactics
Ask the Egyptians in 1973
A thousand greetings, great respect and admiration for your esteemed and wonderful channel, which provided accurate and useful information. I wish you lasting success. A wonderful work and a great effort that deserves pride, appreciation and pride. My utmost respect and appreciation to you
During the last phase of civil war in Sri Lanka the LTTE used ZPU-4s against government forces. They were usually positioned near high value targets. Our airforce MiG-27s had several encounters with this weapon system and even used against ground troops with devastating effect.
The greatest words of respect, praise and appreciation I dedicate to you for this wonderful and distinguished work
Thank you for your great giving and effort
I wish you lasting success. My utmost respect and appreciation
During 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars, both sides heavily deployed ZPUs and both sides lost at least 10 to 15 aircrafts due to ground fire.
wish you continuous success . A very beautiful and wonderful work that deserves admiration and all appreciation. Never stop.. It would be great if all your works are translated into Arabic. I wish you well and happiness. Thank you for your exceptional and distinguished effort in presenting this very beautiful work
The ZPU - 4 was to be used like the 20 mm Flak Vierling, in which two cannons fired while the other two cooled, or as per doctrine the four machine guns were fired simultaneously?
Gear spring (leaf spring)
Horizontal gear
Firing the trigger unlocks the gear, which drops the sear, releases the hammer, firing the gun, and charging the hammer.
That motion, sends the gear connected to the trigger, to an unlocked position, so the recoil charging the hammer bumps the gear into the other sear, which unlocks and fires, charging the hammer. That motion, bounces the gear back in the direction of the first sear, firing and charging, which bounces the gear to the other sear, and this keeps happening, sear, bounce, other sear, bounce sear, bounce, other sear, until the trigger is released, allowing the gear to gall into a notch below, advancing it one position.
The gear is a wheel, every trigger pull advances 1 position, but holding, allows it to bounce between 2. Mechanical power.
Electric gear works also.
That's for 2 barrels, for 4, twin link, and time opposite.
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Now these are neat!
ZPU 1/2/4 👍👌💪💪
The gun itself is good, but if without an equally good searching, tracking, and aiming system, it's useless against modern flying threads. Even the guns from 120 years ago are still good. For example, the Mauser 98 and Mosin Nagant 91 rifles in one form or another are still being used in current wars. The limiting fact is aiming.
There’s something oddly funny to me about the sheer number of places old Soviet weapons and equipment turn up. Throw a dart at a map of the world and chances are pretty high that wherever it lands, there will at the very least be a good number of small arms floating around. Hell, even in the USA the Mosin and SKS are pretty easy to find.
The ZPU as well as the 14.5 mm KPV is a versatile machine gun with high combat effectiveness. The Soviets as well as the Chinese made it a lot, other military forces also used it very popularly like the 12.7 mm DshK. It is quite dangerous and extremely formidable when it can destroy infantry and light vehicles, not to mention helicopters and low-flying aircraft that can fall victim to it. It is a "king" of guerrilla warfare.
Great video. Like many weapons systems, the Germans got the ball rolling, re: Ostwind + Wirblewind.
Found one in gulf 1. Towed it back to camp and used it as a kind of improvised rotary washing line.
Should of used it it's a brilliant gun
It’s simple and rugged design makes it ideal as a low cost yet high yield weapon system making them highly deadly towards low and slow flying aircraft like say an A10 warthog or an Apache helicopter, but if needed them lower the barrel and you have a highly effective anti infantry weapon capable of punching through any and all body armor along with most of the cover the unfortunate sod found themselves behind and if the round didn’t go through them it would simply have enough force to plant your two cheeks firmly on the ground, as for other targets soft skin vehicles like trucks or even humvees would be cut to ribbons and even things like main battle tanks could and can be destroyed if placed on a high enough elevation and sufficient downwards angle to shoot the tank from above punching straight through the roof and into the engine bay or into the crew, unlike the 20mm round despite being slightly smaller it’s nothing to laugh at, and again their main selling point is that they’re cheap, so it’s not just one of these you have to worry about it’s two or three of these working in unison and again unlike most modern systems which are radar guided which in turn gives away the guns position, the thing being manually operated can more or less stay hidden from enemy radar or satellite if hidden well enough until the lead starts to fly, not only that but the thing can be wirelessly operated of push came to shove via a remote control and a camera, and some motors, but I doubt that’ll be the case, other problems is that the frame as show is sufficiently light weight enough two or more men can simply drag it into position or be easily bolted onto the top of a tank or the back of a flatbed truck
It's also more suitable to be mounted on pickup trucks. While the ZSU-23-2 fire a more powerful caliber shell, it's really stretching the limit of a Toyota pickup. When firing sideways, the 23 mm twin cannons simply create too much recoil for a pickup truck to handle, limiting the guns to short bursts only. But the lower recoil of the ZPU allows it to be mounted on a pickup truck and still capable of sustained fire in all directions.
Bravo
So the zpu 2 is probably the best variant
Really isn't analogous because it's a video game, but one of the most fun I had was in Squad as insurgents and a tigr 4x4 rolled up on me while I was mounting a zpu-2. It didn't last being 5 meters away.
I like the very quiet Aviamarch in the background lol
Do remember that recently de-classed docs show that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was faked. I am super jelly of those Syrian Land Cruisers tho. I want one.
Excellent video. I love the scenes from the Russian movie The Dawns Here Are Quiet. But I don't understand. There is some footage from Ukraine. Is the ZPU already used in the war?
They are old footage. Officially, Ukraine retired the ZPUs. But, as mentioned in our video, we anticipate that they will return.
@@WeaponDetective Thanks
Yes. Everything that can shoot, is used to counter the terrorist strikes against civilian infrastructure
used to find these things all over iraq...abandoned.
It was every effective against Iranian human waves attack during Iraq-Iran war
@@ArtVandelay00 14.5mm shooting human waves attack like a meat grinder! that's horrible kickass rounds can kill a lot of enemy charging!💥💥💥🩸🩸🩸😖
how many Type 56s are there in PRC? 🧐
If you monitor the enemy lanes of entry and exit they like to frequent,you can set up overlapping rings of fire on their way in and out, aa isn't about knocking down aircrafts as much as it's a area denial weopan,
Medevacs have to be done further out,shooting accurately goes down becautthey are forced to shoot munitions from further out (rockets that aren't guided and cannons etc) and planes are forced to fly higher,one lucky hit .....and you never know man
so 20mm quad conversion?
AA guns prove vital against a spam of kamikaze drones, and even cruise missiles
I don't understand how one uses such weapons. Does the gunner spin two wheels for elevation and rotation? If yes then why the four man crew.
05:11 add some antennae and some sci-fi looking stuff, and it can be a tiny hit and run robot of any army in any RTS game
Weapon low cost and legend in all battle
They do now polar has made them automatic no twisting a wheel to move it its got a joy stik and can be joined to a radar
I've always like the look of the ZPUs all the variants 2 barrels, 4 barrels, towed, mounted what ever...seems like these would end up on the roofs of buildings to do a little drone skeet shooting around cities in Ukraine and/or clustered in areas on the out skirts of cities in the general direction they come from keeping an ear and an eye out for those loud ass flying lawn mower engines
In the next episode of legendary weapons... the old warfighter's son enters the fray... join us to see how the next generation of soviet AAA the ZSU23 continued the reputation of ZPU family...
Here is our ZU-23-2 video
ua-cam.com/video/Tez-D0V7lfQ/v-deo.html
I'd hate to be in a Huey when a jungle hillside a few hundred yards away suddenly bursts in the 4-barrel wrath of a hidden ZPU...
And then the hill on the other side erupts with another.
Put it on a flatbed, add rc parts and industrial automation expertise and you have a static drone defence weapon system.
👍👍👍👊👊
It's can be used against UAVs
This ewapons systems shines when mounted to a vehicle. Mobility is your friend on the battlefield.
That system is scary thank god it can't depress lower than 0 deg.
Ex SA soldier..
Could it counter incoming missile
need one of those!!
We captured a bunch of these and it's variants during Desert Storm
Could this be used against UAVs?
nope.TB 2 drone flies at 8.000 metres.This thing wont go more than 2kms i believe.
i imagine if it can kill much larger helicopters cheap drones would be little trouble especially for the ZPU-4.
That ZPTU 2 is a silent killer in Wargame red dragon
I wonder if the 4 Barrel version is based on the German Flakvierling in the 20 mm which was Nicknamed the Mincer by its operators
North Korea does not use the zpu-4 in a spaag role on a chonma ho, it uses 30mm cannon twins
I'm pretty sure I've seen this in Mad Max.
TOYOTA...Oh what a feeling...
At a glance I thought it was a trashed four wheeler..😂
That would look so good in the back of my pick-up!!!!
how are they obsolete I bet they would be great against drones.
can do video about 107mm rocket (mlrs) they are every were
Thanks for your interest. We added the 107mm MLRS on our list.
it has not been cost effective to make smart fusing for ammunition of less than 30mm, such as proximity fusing and variable range fusing
Toyota is just as reliable as any gun out there 🐱
Will we see this Weapon System used in latest Ukrainian War?
ZSU 23 quads downed 3 Blackhawks on Grenada.
Never heard of a zpu.
What about this big ass quad machine gun on wheels? Yes, we want many of those.
Thesa are good anti-dron guns now.
ZPU's and Toyota pickups give name to a war called Toyota War.
Jeez....
The only one who doesn't have one is.....me!
These are very affective against swarm drones.
Zpui pui pui ..pui ..pui .....pui pui pui pui 😁