ЗСУ-57-2: История создания и эксплуатации советской зенитной самоходной установки.

After World War II it became clear that the firepower of a single 37 mm AA gun was insufficient to destroy high speed, low altitude targets. SPAAGs based on light tank chassis had poor maneuverability in difficult terrain, slow off road speed and insufficient range in comparison with medium tanks and SPGs. Thus the ZSU 37s were retired from service by the end of the 1940s.

For several years after World War II there were no new SPAAG models in the USSR except for the BTR 152A (which were armed with two or four 14.5mm KPV heavy machine guns, designed ZTPU 4) and the BTR 40A (ZTPU 2) wheeled SPAAGs. Two of the USSR's potential enemies – the United States and Great Britain, had high quality air forces with substantial ground attack experience. The need for a new tracked AA vehicle was apparent. In February 1946, the Design Bureau of Works No. 174 in Omsk and the Research Institute No. 58 in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast submitted a joint project for a SPAAG based on the T 34 tank chassis, to be armed with four 37 mm AA guns, to the Technical Council of the Ministry of Transport. However, the project did not proceed due to the desire to concentrate attention on the newest tank chassis available.

The ZSU 57 2 has a maximum road speed of 50 kilometres per hour, which is reduced to around 30 km/h off road. The Soviet Union would launch a program to replace the ZSU 57. The ZSU 37 2 and 23 4 were the products of the attempt, and the ZSU 23 4 Shilka would see widespread service in various countries.

Although the vehicle entered service in 1955 and in the same year the No. 174 Works located in Omsk began producing the hulls and turrets, the first vehicles were completed in 1957 More than 2,023 ZSU 57 2s were produced in Soviet Union.

ZSU 57 2s were exported like other Soviet equipment. Five other Warsaw Pact members—Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania—used it, as well as Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria. North Vietnam and North Korea may have received theirs without payment.

The first foreign operator of the ZSU 57 2 was East Germany as it received its first vehicles in September 1957. From 1957 to 1961 the National People's Army received 129 vehicles, They were also offered a production license for twin S 68 AA autocannons, but declined it.

Three other Warsaw Pact members, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, received ZSU 57 2s once the ZSU 23 4 was introduced in the Soviet Army. Czechoslovakia imported one ZSU 57 2 for testing but it was rejected when it was realised that the domestically produced M53/59 Praga was comparable to the ZSU 57 2. They were passed on to the successor states during the 1992 breakup of the federal state. They were then used by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There were 54 of those vehicles in service as of 1999, but this number decreased to 36 in the subsequent decade; they were withdrawn from active service by 2003. A number of ZSU 57 2 remained in Serbia national inventories until 2008.

Finland imported 12 ZSU 57 2 SPAAGs between 1960 and 1961 alongside other kinds of Soviet equipment. Despite that, the Egyptian Army operated 40 ZSU 57 2s as of 2003 and equipped them with radars. Egypt also bought Chinese made proximity fuzes for its S 60 and S 68 ammunition. ZSU 57 2s were used by the PAVN against US aircraft, but it proved to be more effective against ground targets. During the 1982 Lebanon War, they unsuccessfully engaged Israeli air force aircraft over the Beqaa Valley. However, the vehicles fared better when used against land targets. The purpose of these vehicles probably has changed to ground support only.

ZSU 57 2s saw service during the Yugoslav Wars, usually in light batteries used by Serbs and Montenegrins of the JNA for attacking ground targets. They were used during the war of independence when Croatian forces captured two ZSU 57 2s from the JNA. They were also used in the air defence role in 1999 during the NATO air raids against Yugoslavia when the Yugoslavs operated 54 of these vehicles.

Type 80 (WZ305) – Chinese SPAAG. It has the same turret as the ZSU 57 2, but it is armed with the Type 59 twin anti aircraft autocannon (a copy of the Soviet S 68), mounted on the chassis of a Chinese Type 69 II MBT. It is heavier than the ZSU 57 2 at 30 tonnes.

ZSU 57 2 modernization equipped with a radar.

ItPsv SU 57 – Finnish designation for ZSU 57 2. – Received 100 former Soviet ZSU 57 2 between 1967 and 1968. Unknown amount still in service as of 2023.

– Imported one ZSU 57 2 for testing but did not adopt it.

Captured several units during the Yugoslav wars and operated them during the rest of the wars. – Captured a number of ZSU 57 2 SPAAGs from the Egyptians or the Syrians during the Six Day War and operated them during the rest of the war.