Iran Air Defense Systems

and now Iran's new upgraded version of ZSU-57-2

http://armyrecognition.com/weapons_defence_industry_military_technology_uk/new_bahman_57mm_6x6_self-propelled_anti-aicraft_twin_gun_unveiled_by_iranian_armed_forces_11404162.html

Iran Defense Industry has developed a new wheeled self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system under the name of "Bahman", the vehicle was unveiled on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, during a ceremony on the occasion of the Army Day, attended by the Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan.
The Bahman is 57mm twin-cannon self-propelled wheeled air defense system designed and manufacture by the Iranian defense industry. The vehicle is based on Ukrainian-made 6x6 truck chassis KrAZ-6322.

The Bahman seems to equipped with a modified turret of Soviet-made ZSU-57-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Main armament consists of twin 57mm S-68 guns which have the same performance and use the same ammunition as the towed single S-60 anti-aircraft gun. The turret is mounted at the rear of the truck chassis.

The turret has an elevation an elevation of +85º, depression of -5º and 360º turret traverse. Elevation, depression and turret traverse are powered, with manual controls available for emergency use.

The original Soviet-made ZSU-57-2 has a rate of fire of 105 to 120 rds/min with a practical rate of fire of 70 rds/gun/min. Maximum horizontal range is 12,000 m, maximum vertical range 8,000 m, although effective ranges are less than this. Effective slant range is 3,993 m, effective altitude limit with weapons elevated at +45º is 2,835 m and effective altitude limit with weapons elevated at +65º is 4,237 m.
In firing position, the vehicle is stabilized by the use of two large hydraulic spades lowered on the ground on each side of the turret.

GarryB wrote:Interesting development... it is pretty much a ZSU-57-2 but instead of an obsolete tank chassis it uses a light truck to move around on the battlefield.

the main problems of the ZSU-57-2 was low rate of traverse with manual only traverse controls, and lack of aiming assistance via radar.

Other issues include the old four round clips the ammo is loaded with limiting rate of fire and requiring a couple of ammo handlers. the size of the ammo means max ammo for the vehicle will be about 300 rounds.

the open top makes it vulnerable to even small arms fire or shrapnel of return fire from aircraft.

The positives include a devastatingly powerful round that is very effective against air targets if you get a contact and equally powerful against ground targets too.

Normally I would say it is an improvement of something that is totally obsolete, but if you look at the system I would say it has huge potential.

The truck base makes it more mobile where roads are good and much cheaper to operate compared with a tank based vehicle.

New generation ammo for the system could make it devastating if it gets the ability to fire guided rounds as well as standard dumb rounds.

This is a nice step, but the best upgrade would be a Boomerang based model with an unmanned turret and autofeed system and guided shells.

this system would be devastating to light aircraft and would cripple even an A-10 with one or two solid hits... it should ruin the day of any helo crew including the new heavily armoured Russian models... and most light armoured vehicles will fear this calibre... even from the side and rear most MBTs will be in trouble if this thing opens fire on them.

Add a radar vehicle that can find targets and assist in aiming and even this truck based system could be very effective. (note the towed model S-60 is quite powerful but lacks mobility with radar support).

100% agree, i think the 57mm calibre is getting a new life, the potential is huge and devastating. But your right this would be better on boomerang, but at least the Iranians have tried, but i would still say the ZSU-57-2 still has potential as ground support only thing to add would be additional armour on top of turret and laser range finder, optics, thermal imaging etc, and this would prove lethal in built up areas, the high degree angle the guns have would be ideal for shooting at buildings and mountainous areas. But i also still think the T-55 chassis still has some use as a platform, and the T-55 in general is still useful its been the mainstay of the SAA, and what the Egyptians did with theirs Ramses II its brilliant.

what is people general thoughts/views on Irans air defence and on its home grown/USA copies equipment?

and now with sanctions lifted i wonder if they will get their ZSU-23-4, Sa-6 and Tor upgraded.

whats peoples views on the the Sa-eer 100mm automatic gun, the Mesbah 1 and the ZU-23-6 all systems that have used existing weapons but greatly upgraded them to be automated and radar guided except for the ZU-23-6 descriptions below with pictures:

Sa-eer gun is fully automatic, its is coupled to a command post which has a opto-electronics station for the acquisition, sighting and firing of several guns. The smart system can track and fire target automatically in the range to 20 to 40 km and the altitude of 15 km. A command post and its automatic guidance and firing system allow the control of four guns at the same time. It would most likely be used with the Skyguard radar or some other Iranian made radar.


Mesbah 1 uses 4 Iranian built Russian ZU-23-2 (8 guns total) installed on a rotatable mount. Each autocannon has its own feed magazine. Each ZU-23-2 has a reported fire rate of 2000 rpm. But surprisingly the whole system is reported to have a rate of 4000 rpm instead of 8000 this has been done to save ammunition. The Mesbah-1 is fully integrated with surveillance and targeting radar which is mounted on a towed cabin suitable for fixed site deployment. The Mesbah-1 uses Radar and IR/Optical sensors to find its target automatically. Its radar is described as 3D flat-antenna radar with a good accuracy that finds and traces the target and gives its position to the fire control system. Its automatic control system makes it need less crew to operate and its sophisticated tracking and tracing algorithms makes it able to engage small targets like incoming missiles. The Mesbah-1 uses a small Planar Array Radar, which can detect HARM (high-speed anti-radiation) missile from 30 km. The system also includes back-up EO tracking and fire control. Even if Mesbah-1 uses only Electro Optical guidance then it can detect HARM in Infra-Red Thermal camera. 10 kilometers of detection range will give Mesbah-1 20 seconds to lock onto and shoot down the target. (10 kilometers target distance, 500 meters/second target speed, 20 second approaching time).


The ZU-23-6 is an Iranian made anti-aircraft gun system based on the Russian anti-aircraft gun ZU-23-2. The Iranian defence Industry has designed and manufactured this new concept of weapon system with the use of 6 barrels of 23 mm gun. Analysis of pictures of ZU-23-6 seem to indicate that the system is manual operated. The ZU-23-6 is a clear weather only system with no provision for radar fire control. A single seat is mounted at the rear of the four-wheel carriage probably for the gunner.

Sa-eer 100mm





MesBah-1




ZU-23-6

GarryB wrote:Can't see the pics.

The ZSU-23-4 has different cannon from the ZU-23-2... they have a higher rate of fire and are water cooled on the ZSU-23-4. I suspect the use of 6 barrels of the ZU-23-2 is an attempt to get the rate of fire without using the different cannon.

i can see the pics and they seem to uploaded ok, is anyone else having same problem?


interesting never knew that about the ZSU-23-2 and ZSU-23-4