AA 37mm

The Red Army had always ignored the question of close mobile defense of its troops. Nevertheless, the Soviet staff requested the production of a 37mm anti-aircraft gun to protect key locations. This gun, towed and with a limited range, has fairly good firepower for its kind but must be used in large numbers to be effective. Concealed if possible to avoid detection, it is also quite expensive and slow to produce and maneuver.

History[]

The M1939 37mm anti aircraft weapon system is based on the Bofors 25mm Model 1933 gun system of 1935. It saw extensive action in the Second World War for both the Soviet Army and Navy, accounting for the downing of 14,657 Axis aircraft with about 905 rounds per aircraft destroyed. Sustained fire of 60 rounds per minute can be achieved. The M1938 was also not limited to anti-air defense and could be utilized as an anti-tank gun system if need be. The single mount system has been developed into a twin-mount system and has seen limited export.

The M1938 anti-aircraft weapon system was designated as Type 55 in the Communist China inventory. It was replaced in the Soviet inventory by the ZSU-57-2 anti-aircraft gun system during the 1950's.^[1]

Gallery[]

Pros & Cons[]

+/-Perfectly average.

+/-The rather low rate of fire means this gun must rely on damage per shot unlike 20-25mm guns.

-None of all the truck mounted version of soviet AA artillery is available like the 72-K, 21-K, 8-K or the (currently) popular ZPU M-4 (quad maxim) Granted none of them would be on-pair with the M16 But trucks like the YaG-10 with 3-K AA gun would be a rival to the Breda 90/53