Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2021-12-06

Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2288 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Self-propelled_anti-aircraft_weapons
#Armoured_fighting_vehicles_by_type
Soviet-made ZSU-23-4 in California.
An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun （SPAAG） or self-propelled air defense system （SPAD）, is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability.
The Russian equivalent of SPAAG is ZSU, for zenitnaya samokhodnaya ustanovka （зенитная самоходная установка, "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount"）.
Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, autocannons, larger guns, or missiles, and some mount both guns and longer-ranged missiles （e.g. the Pantsir-S1）.
Platforms used include both trucks and heavier combat vehicles such as APCs and tanks, which add protection from aircraft, artillery, and small arms fire for front line deployment.
Anti-aircraft guns are usually mounted in a quickly-traversing turret with a high rate of elevation, for tracking fast-moving aircraft.
They are often in dual or quadruple mounts, allowing a high rate of fire.
In addition, most anti-aircraft guns can be used in a direct-fire role against surface targets to great effect.
Today, missiles （generally mounted on similar turrets） have largely supplanted anti-aircraft guns.
A World War 1, British, truck-mounted, QF 3 inch gun Anti-aircraft machine guns have long been mounted on trucks, and these were quite common during World War I. A predecessor of the WWII German "88" anti-aircraft gun,
the WWI German 77 mm anti-aircraft gun, was truck-mounted and used to great effect against British tanks.
The British QF 3 inch 20 cwt was mounted on trucks for use on the Western Front.
Between the two World Wars, the United Kingdom developed the Birch gun, a general-purpose artillery piece on an armoured tracked chassis capable of maintaining formation with their current tanks over terrain.
The gun could be elevated for anti-aircraft use.
Vickers Armst...