• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

23 ItK 61

In August 2022 the Territorial Defense of Ukraine received "23 ItK 61" 23mm anti-aircraft guns from Finland. The installations were received by fighters of the 122nd ground defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is based in the Odesa region. The Territorial Defense of Ukraine received 23 ItK 61 anti-aircraft guns from Finland. This model differs from the initial ZU-23-2 version by a gyro-stabilized sight, a laser rangefinder, a thermal imager, and even its own generator.

The original Finnish 23 ItK 61 is a modified version of the Soviet 23 mm anti-aircraft gun ZU-23-2. The unit has the unofficial name Sergei. It is equipped with a gyrostabilized sight and a laser rangefinder. The 23 ItK 95 is an upgrade designed by Instrumentointi Oy and Vammas Oy. The upgrade adds gyro-stabilization to the gun, along with an APU and a laser range finder. In Finland, modernization of "23 ItK 61" to the level of "23 ItK 95" is carried out, but at the same time, a significant number of non-modernized anti-aircraft installations is kept in warehouses. As of 2018, Finland had 45 units of “23 ItK 95” and about four hundred “23 ItK 61” in storage.

In the early 1970s, Finland acquired from the Soviet Union and Germany 23-mm twin anti-aircraft guns "ZU-23-2", which received the designation "23 ItK 61" and the unofficial name "Sergej" in Finland. "ZU-23-2" was developed in the late 1950s to destroy air targets at altitudes of up to 2.5 km and lightly armored targets up to two kilometers in combat formations.

The ZU-23 towed light AD gun mount consists of two 23mm automatic guns, mechanical hand-operated elevating and traversing drives, and ZAP-23 optical iron sight. The mount is also fitted with an optical sight to fight ground targets. However, it has no electronic ballistic computer, electric signal meter for generation of lead and elevation angles (range finder, tachometer, angle sensors) or actuating mechanisms (electrical or hydraulic) for laying the weapon to a predicted point. The ZU-23 is fired by two crew members operating at workstations on the rotating part of the mount. One member handles the ZAP-23 sight by manipulating the knobs to enter approximate target data into the sight, to turn the collimator sight relative to the weapon, and to lay the latter in elevation and lead. The other crew member, the gun layer, rotates the elevating and traversing handwheels to keep the crosshairs of the collimator sight on the target and, hence, the automatic gun barrel axes in the direction of a predicted point with an accuracy depending on the accuracy of the target data entered.

The AD mount is simple in design and handling, reliable in operation and service, and is popular among the troops. However, having been created in the 1960s, the ZU-23 has a low efficiency against modern aircraft and can practically deliver the barrage fire rather than the aimed fire. Thus, the probability of hitting aircraft flying at a speed of 200 m/s during the coverage zone flyover is approximately 0.023.

A great number of ZU-23 gun mounts operational in Russia and abroad, as well as their high performance, make modernizing the ZU-23 a practical task. It is evident one must improve, first of all, the laying system on the basis of state-of-the-art technologies, the control systems of a ZU-23 battery and of single mounts, and give the mount the equipment that will allow it to operate at night.

The experience of the Nudelman Precision Engineering Design Bureau in creation of simple but efficient AD close-combat systems with optronic control systems accumulated in recent years, allowed the Bureau to modernize the ZU-23 on the basis of the modular construction of renewed systems, to increase the combat capabilities with insurance of aimed fire against low-flying air targets, including pinpoint targets, with an efficiency elevated up to 0.3 - 0.4. At that, the modernization is mainly done by employing series and experimental models of instruments and systems with minor adjustment of the standard AD mount to meet the appropriate requirements.

The Finnish companies Instrumentointi OY and VAMMAS' OY cooperated to complete the ZU-23 gun mount with an optical sighting system for semiautomatic target tracking, a laser range finder, a digital computer, power elevating and traversing drives, and some other devices. Judging by the publications, the angles of lead are generated with the use of predicted coordinates forecasting technology. Due to this, the predicted coordinates computing accuracy is likely to be lower than that of the ZU-23 mount being modernized by the Precision Engineering Design Bureau.