ASU-57
In service 1951 - 1970s
An air-droppable open-topped tank destroyer, light enough to be delivered by glider or parachute platform to airborne divisions.
Built byMytishchi Machine Works
Development history
Soviet airborne troops had no anti-tank vehicle until the ASU-57, an aluminium-bodied open carrier weighing barely three tonnes. It could be dropped from An-12 transports on a platform and gave paratroopers a 57 mm gun with reasonable armour penetration for the early 1950s. Crew protection was almost nil, and the ASU-85 and then BMD-1 replaced it from the 1960s.
Variants
One canonical record, 1 recorded variants.
ASU-57P
1954Amphibious version with a sealed hull; not adopted