Zastava M55
M55 A4 B1 guns of the former Army of Republika Srpska
TypeTowed 20 mm Anti-Aircraft Triple Autocannon
Place of originYugoslavia/Serbia
Service history
In service1955–present
Used bySee Operators
WarsYom Kippur War
Angolan Civil War
South African Border War
Rhodesian Bush War
Mozambican Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
Salvadoran Civil War
Yugoslav Wars
Second Nagorno-Karabakh war
Production history
DesignerZastava Arms
Designed1955–1971
ManufacturerZastava Arms
Produced1971–present[1]
VariantsSee Variants section
Specifications (Zastava M55)
Mass1,100 kg (2,400 lb) loaded, 970 kg (2,140 lb) unloaded
Length1.47 m (4 ft 10 in) (driving condition)
Barrel length1,956 mm (77.0 in) L/70
Width1.27 m (4 ft 2 in) (driving condition)
Height4.30 m (14.1 ft) (driving condition)
Crew6 -- gunners and commander
Shell20x110mm Hispano
Caliber20 mm
Barrels3
ActionGas operated
Elevation+83° to -5
Traverse360°
Rate of fire1,950 and 2,250 rpm cyclic, 700 rpm practical
Muzzle velocityArmour-piercing: 840 m/s (2,800 ft/s), High-explosive incendiary: 850 m/s (2,800 ft/s)
Effective firing range2,000 m (6,600 ft) (air), 2,500 m (8,200 ft) (ground targets)
Maximum firing range4,000 m (13,000 ft) (vertical), 5,500 m (18,000 ft) (horizontal)
Feed system3 x 60 round top-fed drum magazines

The Zastava M55, also designated 20/3-mm-M55, is a Yugoslavian/Serbian 20mm triple-barreled automatic anti-aircraft gun developed in 1955 and produced by Crvena Zastava (now Zastava Arms company) in Kragujevac, Serbia, for Yugoslav People's Army use and also for the export market. In addition to the basic towed model M55 A2, the variants M55 A3 B1, M55 A4 B1, and the BOV-3 SPAAG were also developed.

Development

In 1951, the Federal Secretariat of People's Defense (Serbo-Croatian: Savezni sekretarijat za narodnu odbranu – SSNO) purchased the manufacturing licence of the single-barrel Hispano-Suiza HS.804 20mm L/70 anti-aircraft autocannon mounted on the HSS.630-3 towed gun carriage. The HS.804 made by the Crvena Zastava Company entered production in 1955 as the Zastava 20/1mm M55 and the company's engineers began working in the development of a triple-barrelled version; the first prototype was completed and entered production in 1971.[2][3]

Variants

Ground model M55 A2

Zastava M55 with a SA-7 surface-to-air missile mount on a TAM-110 military transport truck

The standard towed version of the M55 introduced in 1971, is intended for infantry use.[4]

M55 A3 B1

The M55 A3 B1 is an improved version of the M55 A2 introduced in 1978.[4]

M55 A4 B1

The M55 A4 B1 was introduced in 1977–78, and is an M55 gun system mounted on the towed carriage of the Swiss GAI-D01 anti-aircraft gun. A new computer-controlled targeting system – the Galileo ballistic computer – was installed, which automatically monitors the gun after the target has been acquired. In addition, an engine of the same type as the M55 A3 B1 has been placed under the gunner's seat, which was moved from the lateral position found on the previous version in order to improve the weight distribution of the three barrels and prevent them from vibrating. When the cannon is put into position, the towed carriage is removed, and a small splinter-proof shield has been installed in front of the targeting device and the gunner.[4]

M55 A4 M1 (BOV-3)

M55 A4 M1 (BOV-3)

The M55 A4 M1 was first introduced in 1983, and consists on a modified A4 B1 system upgraded with the Galileo J171 ballistic computer, mounted on a turret installed in the top roof of a BOV armoured personnel carrier.[4][2][3][5]

Combat history

Africa

The Zastava M55 A2 was employed extensively by the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) during the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002) and the later stages of the South African Border War (1966–1990), with a number of them being captured by the South African Defence Force during their military operations launched against SWAPO/PLAN guerrilla bases at southern Angola in the 1980s.[6] Some of the captured guns were stripped from the triple mounts and re-mounted on the Casspir APCs employed by the Koevoet on their counter-insurgency operations in Angola and South West Africa[7] whilst others were handed over to the Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola, the armed wing of UNITA.

The Zastava M55 was also employed by the People's Forces of Liberation of Mozambique (FPLM) during both the Mozambican Civil War (1977–1992) and the later phase of the Rhodesian Bush War, with a few guns falling into the hands of the Rhodesian Security Forces in the course of their covert cross-border raids on Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrilla training camps in Mozambique during the late 1970s.[8]

Middle East

Lebanon received an unspecified number of Zastava M55 A2 autocannons sometime in the early 1970s from Yugoslavia, which were assigned to the air defense units of the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Air Force.[9] They were extensively employed during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), with several guns falling into the hands of the various competing Christian and Muslim militias after the collapse of the Lebanese Armed Forces in January 1976. Main operators included the Army of Free Lebanon,[10] Lebanese Arab Army,[11] Al-Tanzim, Kataeb Regulatory Forces,[12] Zgharta Liberation Army, the Tigers Militia, Arab Socialist Union,[13] the Druze People's Liberation Army,[14][13] the Al-Mourabitoun,[15][16][17] and the Palestine Liberation Organization[18] who mounted their Zastava M55 autocannons on technicals and M113 armored personnel carriers.[19][12][16][20]

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence reported that it destroyed two Armenian Zastava M55s 9–10 October 2020 as part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.[21]

Operators

Former operators

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Zastava Arms".
  2. 1 2 Miroslav Jandrić, Seventh Decade of the Military Technical Institute (1948. – 2013.), Scientific Technical Review, 2013, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 5–25. UDK: 355.014:623.4, COSATI: 15–05, 19–06, 01-03, p. 9.
  3. 1 2 "1945 – 1970 | Zastava-arms". www.zastava-arms.rs. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "1970-1992 | Zastava-arms". www.zastava-arms.rs. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  5. ↑ Foss, Christopher F. (2002). Jane's Tank & Combat Vehicle recognition guide. London: HarperCollins. pp. 298–299. ISBN 0-00-712759-6.
  6. ↑ Venter, War in Angola (1992), pp. 7; 9.
  7. ↑ Heitman & Hannon, Modern African Wars (3): South-West Africa (1991), p. 22.
  8. ↑ Photos of Zastava M55 autocannons captured by the Rhodesian Security Forces in Mozambique, September 1979.
  9. ↑ Kassis 2012, p. 15.
  10. ↑ Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 173.
  11. ↑ Lebanese Arab Army M113 APCs with ZU-23-2 and Zastava M55 autocannons
  12. 1 2 Kassis 2003, p. 27.
  13. 1 2 Kassis 2019, p. 233.
  14. ↑ Leigh Neville, Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great Toyota War to modern Special Forces, New Vanguard series 257, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2018. ISBN 978-1-4728-2251-2, p. 15.
  15. ↑ Kassis 2003, p. 66.
  16. 1 2 El-Assad, Moustafa (2008). Civil Wars Volume 1: The Gun Trucks. Sidon: Blue Steel books. p. 93. ISBN 978-9953-0-1256-8.
  17. ↑ Zastava M55 autocannon of the Al-Mourabitoun militia in the Lebanese civil war
  18. 1 2 Sex & Abi-Chahine 2021, p. 157.
  19. ↑ Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), appendix A, table A-6.
  20. ↑ Kassis 2012, p. 53.
  21. 1 2 "Baku reports intensive fighting in Karabakh throughout night". TASS. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  22. ↑ "Angolan Army Equipment". Globalsecurity.org.
  23. ↑ "Angolan army land ground forces military equipment armoured vehicle pictures information desc - Army Recognition".
  24. ↑ "Bosnia Herzegovina Land Forces military equipment, armament and vehicles Army" armyrecognition.com
  25. ↑ Wondo Omanyundu, Jean-Jacques (23 May 2018). "Joseph Kabila continues to over-equip his regime militarily for the upcoming political deadlines". desc-wondo.org.
  26. ↑ Army of the Republic of Macedonia official site
  27. ↑ "Perawatan triple gun Paskhas". Facebook. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  28. ↑ "El Salvadoran Army index equipment" armyrecognition.com
  29. ↑ Tunisian Army modified GMC M35 Trucks with Zastava M55 Triple 20 mm Anti-Aircraft Autocannons.
  30. ↑ Mitzer, Stijin; Oliemans, Joost. "Documenting Equipment Losses During The September 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict". Oryx. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

Bibliography

  • Helmoed-Romer Heitman & Paul Hannon, Modern African Wars (3): South-West Africa, Men-at-arms series 242, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. ISBN 978-1-85532-122-9
  • Kassis, Samer (2003). 30 Years of Military Vehicles in Lebanon. Beirut: Elite Group. ISBN 9953-0-0705-5.
  • Kassis, Samer (2012). Véhicules Militaires au Liban 1975-1981 [Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981]. Chyah: Trebia Publishing. ISBN 978-9953-0-2372-4.
  • Kassis, Samer (2019). Invasion of Lebanon 1982. Abteilung 502. ISBN 978-84-120935-1-3.
  • Paul Jureidini, R. D. McLaurin, and James Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas, 1975-1978, Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical Memorandum 11–79, June 1979.
  • Sex, Zachary; Abi-Chahine, Bassel (2021). Modern Conflicts 2 – The Lebanese Civil War, From 1975 to 1991 and Beyond. Modern Conflicts Profile Guide. Vol. II. AK Interactive. EAN 8435568306073.
  • Venter, Al J. (1992). War in Angola. Hong Kong: Concord Publications. ISBN 962-361-030-0.
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