On 24 January 2023 a declaration was published in Tallinn, concerning another military aid package for Ukraine. The UK, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland can be found among the contributing nations. Poland declared it would transfer its 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft guns, with 70,000 rounds of ammo.
It is not known which variant will be transferred to Ukraine and how many guns will be handed over, whether they will be non-modernized units from the Military Property Agency, which may still have quite significant quantities of this artillery anti-aircraft system, or whether they are already modernized S -60MB from the US Polish Fleet.
Those still in use by the Polish Army have been modernized by integrating them with the new Blenda automated fire control system. In the future, they were supposed to be replaced by anti-aircraft guns acquired in the Notec program, but this problem has not yet been solved.
The S-60 is a Soviet 57 mm anti-aircraft gun deployed in the Soviet Army in 1950, which became the primary anti-aircraft artillery system of the Warsaw Pact along with the ZU-23 guns. The basic version has a range of 4,000 meters, and the radar-equipped version has a range of 6 km. This allows you to eliminate targets much further than the aforementioned ZU-23 with a maximum range of 2500 m.
Currently, its role is limited to eliminating slow-flying targets such as drones or helicopters. Armor-piercing projectiles fired from the S-60 can penetrate the equivalent of about 100 mm RHA at a distance of 1,000 meters, meaning they are capable of penetrating the armor of any Russian infantry fighting vehicle or wheeled armored personnel carrier. It is also possible to penetrate the side or rear armor of an MBT such as a T-72 or T-80.
The 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft gun was retired from the Soviet era, but during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the old man S-60 re-appeared. In May 2022 Kharkiv Territorial Defense Brigade received an extremely unusual weapon, namely the S-60 anti-aircraft artillery system, which was developed shortly after the Second World War. Despite its age, this 57-mm system can still be useful to Ukraines territorial defense fighters. In particular, this anti-aircraft gun has quite good characteristics to destroy such air targets as UAVs due to the ability to reach the enemy at a distance of 6 km and an altitude of 5 km.
These parameters are enough to destroy such typical enemy UAVs as "Orlan-10", and in terms of cost-effectiveness, this may be one of the most effective solutions. These parameters allow to confront such typical enemy UAVs as Orlan-10, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, this may be one of the most effective solutions. Defense Express noted that such 57-mm gun can destroy light enemy armor at considerable range as well. Territorial defense fighters installed this gun on the KrAZ truck to provide more mobility. But obviously this decision has brought a negative effect on accuracy.
Ukraine's military near Bakhmut on 10 January 2023 fired Soviet-era anti-aircraft gun at Russian targets. The S-60 is a Soviet-made anti-aircraft gun was produced in 1950s but Ukrainian servicemen said they have found a way to use it in modern combat against land targets. A Ukrainian serviceman who uses a call-sign Pilot says the mission is to cover other soldiers dug in trenches.
If they (Russians) creep in very actively, then we kill them in great numbers. If they are not too active, then we do not fire intensely at their positions. But instead, we fire at their bases. We have coordinates of targets, places where they hide. Ukraine said it was strengthening its forces around Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region and repelling constant attacks there by Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Self-propelled guns in the form of a truck with a cannon on a platform appeared in the Donbass back in 2014, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities. Such equipment was made in artisanal conditions by both Donbass militias and Ukrainian formations. In both cases, this was a forced measure due to the lack or lack of full-fledged self-propelled artillery.
In the course of hostilities, the defenders of Donbass gained the necessary experience and developed optimal methods for using their "guntraks" with S-60 guns. 57-mm guns proved to be a good tool for dealing with all lightly armored combat vehicles and some structures available to the enemy. At the same time, the self-propelled chassis made it possible to quickly leave the position and escape from the retaliatory strike.
After the start of the Russian Special Operation, the use of improvised self-propelled guns continued with renewed vigor. Probably, new machines of this kind were made to make up for losses and to strengthen artillery units. The use of 57-mm guns was again reported, and they once again confirmed the calculated characteristics.
When creating a "guntrak", only the upper carriage machine with a gun and calculation places is used. Using a homemade adapter, it is installed on the cargo area of a suitable vehicle. The resulting ACS has obvious advantages over the original towed complex. Improvised self-propelled guns, incl. based on the S-60 system, are a forced decision. They are built in artisanal conditions due to the lack or lack of full-fledged factory-made combat vehicles. At the same time, this technique also matters, because. the alternative is its complete absence. In addition, it has several characteristic features that can be an advantage.
First of all, it is improved mobility. The trucks used have high cross-country ability, and their mobility is not limited by the parameters of the gun carriage. In addition, there is no need to deploy guns to the position and prepare to leave it. "Guntrak" can simply arrive and leave the position.
Improvised technology also has disadvantages. The main one is the lack of protection. Often, such self-propelled guns have only one armor element - the shield cover of the gun. Accordingly, additional measures are needed in the form of overhead booking on other important structural elements. For aiming the gun, a regular sight of the old model is used. It seriously limits the maximum range and accuracy of fire. In this case, the installation of new control devices in most cases is not possible.
The S-60 has proven itself in many wars (including Vietnam) and can still be dangerous on the modern battlefield. The S-60 battery ( 57mm calibre) was quite an important Anti air system for mid 1950's - 1970s. With the PUAZO 6 fire control director and the SON-9 Search radar, it was used most notably in Vietnam, the 1967 6-Day War, and the 1973 Arab-Isreali war. Although retired entirely by Russia by the 1980s, it still has export users around the world, that have retained this old anti air system into the present day. This system can either be used manually via optical sight on the gun ( if radar systems not present) , or be directed with radar guidance for increased effectiveness and accuracy.
The S-60 guns are an obsolete anti-aircraft system today; if it is necessary to put them into combat position from the march, the time needed for this operation, even by a well-trained crew, is about two minutes, which practically excludes them from effective use on the modern battlefield. Even more time is needed for all the cannons of the battery to be coupled together so that they jointly fire at the target indicated by the computers coupled with the radar station (or with an optical rangefinder). On the other hand, they are still suitable and are used to protect stationary ground objects, because the relatively high rate of fire for this caliber is still an effective firewall, difficult for pilots of low-flying jet aircraft to break for psychological reasons.
Cannons were exported to many countries around the world, taking part in dozens of armed conflicts from the Korean War to the present. They also served in Czechoslovakia (up to 180 copies ), and then in the Army of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The gun was powered by four-round cannons fed by two loaders. Well-coordinated and trained staff could ensure continuous fire, during which 50-60 rounds left the barrel per minute, creating a wall of fire that was difficult for low-flying aircraft (also from a psychological point of view). Interestingly, after firing such a salvo, the gun barrel heated up to 400 - 450 degrees Celsius . The basic anti-aircraft ammunition was UOR-281U fragmentation cartridges, and UBR-281U ammunition with an armor-piercing projectile was used for ground targets.
In order to efficiently control fire and increase the range of effective fire, they were connected to the SON-9 radar and the PUAZO-6-60 artillery computer. With the use of a radiolocator and a converter, the effective range of vertical fire was estimated at 6,000 m (despite the theoretical range of 8,000 m). Alternatively, the cannons could fire using their own WK-3 optical sights, which made it much more difficult for the enemy to detect the battery, but of course reduced the effective range and accuracy of the fire.
The S-60 and its Chinese copy (Type 59) took part in several different military conflicts around the world - such as the Iraq-Iran War, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, and the Soviet-Afghan War. During the Vietnam War, the S-60 was the backbone of North Vietnamese low-altitude air defense and was most effective between 460 and 1,500 m.
Due to obsolescence, the S-60 anti-aircraft system was removed from service with the Russian army long ago. Part of the decommissioned guns went for recycling, while the rest were mothballed. Apparently, by 2022 such weapons were being removed from storage, and they are getting a second life.
Air defense units of the Georgian army used S-60 guns during the Russo-Georgian War. Some units attacked Russian attack aircraft near the city of Gori. None were shot down by the S-60, although some were damaged. Syrian S-60s were used during the Syrian Civil War by both the army and rebel groups. Like many other guns originally designed for anti-aircraft purposes, most of the time they were used to engage ground targets. In this role, the S-60s have an effective range of 6.1 km.
It must be admitted that despite the solid fire control facilities, the guns are impressive primarily due to their age and construction, which dates back to World War II, which can be seen at first glance.
The S-60 anti-aircraft artillery system is distinguished by its great age and long history. The history of the S-60 cannon is extremely interesting and shows how much the Soviet military industry was based on what it copied or simply stolen. Despite the crisis with domestic small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery in the 30s, by the beginning of the war in the USSR, they managed to develop and master in a series of 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns 61K or AZP-37, created in the image and likeness of the popular 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun . Both types of guns had clip feed, a similar aiming system, and were placed on a highly mobile four-wheeled cart. She not only quickly transferred to a combat position, but also, in case of urgent need, allowed firing on the move.
Small-caliber rapid-fire AZP-37 covered ground troops from enemy aircraft attacking from heights up to 3000 meters. In turn, the fight against high-altitude targets, such as medium and heavy bombers, was assigned to large-caliber 76-85 mm guns. Later designed 25-mm guns, also made according to the Bofors type, remained practically unclaimed, since there was no need for them in general.
A significant drawback of the AZP-37 guns was the lack of centralized systems for accurate remote guidance, similar to the artillery anti-aircraft fire control device (POISO), which generated data for accurate firing at an air target. Portable units of the control device were completed only with batteries of large-caliber guns, and the calculation of the 37-mm gun could only use data from a hand-held rangefinder with a relatively small base. Therefore, the accuracy of shooting was low. This was offset by the high rate of fire of a single gun (practically 120-150 rounds per minute) and the massive fire of the entire battery, which included four, more often six, sometimes up to eight guns.
The fire was, as a rule, barrage, but the total number of shots often led to the defeat of the target. Post-war estimates showed that, in general, about 68% of air targets destroyed by anti-aircraft weapons were shot down by small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery fire. The effectiveness of the 37-mm ammunition was also sufficient to destroy ground targets, including light armored vehicles. Such use of anti-aircraft guns has become, in general, commonplace.
During the Great Patriotic War, it was revealed that batteries of small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery very often came into battle not only with aircraft, but also with armored vehicles. In the context of the rapid development of offensive weapons, it was necessary to develop a powerful automatic weapon that could shoot down bombers of a potential enemy such as the Boeing B-17 (Flying Fortress) and destroy medium tanks of the M26 Pershing type (Pershing) with one or two hits.
The need to increase the caliber of automatic anti-aircraft guns for firing at targets flying above 3000 meters was revealed almost immediately with the start of the war, but then the main efforts were made to mass-produce the AZP-37 to fully equip the troops and make up for combat losses.
Choosing before the war a caliber for the domestic automatic anti-aircraft gun being created, specialists from the Artillery Directorate of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) decided that an artillery system for a 45-mm projectile - one of the standard calibers of domestic artillery - would be significantly more expensive to operate than 37-mm. At the same time, without significant advantages in the effectiveness of hitting a target due to the lack of a remote fuse for small-caliber projectiles. And, since the next larger standard caliber in our artillery was 57 mm, it was he who was chosen for the future medium-caliber anti-aircraft gun. The firing range of the new gun was doubled, and the power of the projectile was also doubled.
The basis for the winning design was the German prototype 5.5 cm Gerat 58 gun. The fire control device was developed on the basis of the German Lambda aiming calculator (Kommandogerat 40, 40A and 40B) and was called PUAZO-5A. Later, the calculators were changed to the more modern RPK-1 Vaza model, designed by MM Kositskin.
The development of the promising 57-mm AZP-57 gun, which became its basis, began as early as 1944. More precisely, the entire artillery complex was re-created, including, in addition to guns and ammunition, means of detecting and tracking targets, fire control devices designed to reduce reaction time and qualitatively improve firing accuracy.
Lev Loktev, the head of the design group of plant No. 8, located in Kaliningrad near Moscow (now the city of Korolev), the pre-war developers of domestic automatic anti-aircraft guns, working in the evacuation in Perm as a deputy chief designer, already in 1942 began to think over solutions that would form the basis of a new automatic 57 mm guns.
A theoretical analysis of the Lev Loktev project was made by Mikhail Loginov, and the project itself received life in 1944, after they returned from evacuation and transferred to the Central Artillery Design Bureau (TsAKB). The director and chief designer of the TsAKB was the famous gunsmith Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin, who moved with the team to Kaliningrad from Gorky Plant No. 92. By the time AZP-57 was created, the organization was renamed NII-58.
In 1946, the new gun was presented for field trials. But it took a long time to finish. Field tests of the gun, which received the designation S-60, revealed a number of significant shortcomings. The modified sample was successfully tested at the Donguz test site in August-September 1949. In January 1950 the S-60 gun under the designation "AZP-57 57-mm anti-aircraft automatic gun" was put into service. Serial production was launched at plant No. 4 in Krasnoyarsk.
The 57 mm towed anti-aircraft gun mod. 1950 S-60, entered service with the Soviet Army in the early 1950s to replace the 37-mm towed anti-aircraft gun mod. 1939. The S-60 was adopted by the Soviet Army in January 1950 under the designation " AZP-57 57 mm anti-aircraft gun ". In the same year, its mass production began. In the first post-war years, the finished gun with all other equipment was put to the test. In 1950, the new complex was adopted by the Soviet army.
A simple increase in caliber was no longer enough. By the end of the war, it became clear that the jet aircraft that appeared was a qualitative leap in the development of aviation, which required an acceleration of the air defense response, an increase in the detection range using radar, and the maximum concentration of anti-aircraft fire on a rapidly moving target. The solution of these problems was entrusted to the fire control system (FCS), coupled with guns equipped with electromechanical drives. Thus, the AZP-57 battery became one of the first anti-aircraft systems. This was the main difference between the S-60 system and other samples.The guidance of the S-60 was carried out remotely, using the ESP-57 servo drives, which worked from the control devices of the artillery anti-aircraft guns PUAZO-6 or PUAZO-6-60. In turn, the artillery anti-aircraft fire control device received data from the SON-9 gun-guided radar station (then from the RPK-1 Vaza radar instrument complex with the Tug calculating device).
Later, at NII-20, under the leadership of M. M. Kosichkin, the RPK-1 Vaza radar-instrument complex was developed for the S-60 batteries. RPK-1 was located on the Ural-375 vehicle and included a radar, a television-optical sight, and an analog calculating device. The detection range of air targets was 55 km, automatic tracking - up to 40 km. Target designation data from PUAZO or from RPK-1 came to the guns via synchronous transmissions and were worked out by the guns' electric drives. S-60 became the first domestic artillery system with remote guidance of guns using servo drives.
The S-60 is an anti-aircraft artillery system with a 57-mm automatic cannon on a towed chassis. Its task is to combat air and ground targets at ranges up to 6 km and altitudes of 5 km using projectiles of various types. Calculation of the complex - up to 8 people.
The basis of the complex is the automatic gun AZP-57. It is equipped with a 57 mm rifled barrel with a length of 85 klb. There is a muzzle brake and recoil devices. The long barrel gives the muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s and provides the specified firing range.
The gun uses automatics based on the recoil energy when fired. Unitary shots 57x348 mm SR with fragmentation tracer, armor-piercing incendiary and other projectiles are used. The supply of ammunition is carried out manually using clips for four shells. Automation provides a technical rate of fire up to 120 rds / min. Practical does not exceed 70-75 rds / min.
The S-60 automatic cannon is designed to destroy air targets at an altitude of up to 6000 m (using the PUAZO artillery computer) or 5500 m (using a semi-automatic anti-aircraft sight), as well as ground targets, including armored ones, at a distance of up to 12,000 m. At present, integrated radar-computer systems, similar to the VAZ complex, are used for aiming and adjusting fire for these purposes.
The S-60 gun is used as part of a battery. Unitary rounds with OR-281 and OR-281U fragmentation tracers are used to destroy air targets, and unitary shots with BR-281 and BR-281U armor-piercing tracers are used to destroy ground armored targets. Fragmentation shells are equipped with a fuse located in the warhead with a self-liquidator.
The AZP-57 gun was used not only as part of the S-60 complex. In the fifties, the ZSU-57-2 self-propelled gun was created with a pair of such guns. Various options for using the gun in the creation or modernization of other armored vehicles were proposed. For fleet developed the AK-725 turret with a pair of 57-mm guns.
The firing mode could be automatic, semi-automatic (according to ESP-57) or manual. The maximum number of guns in the battery is eight, since it is for this number that it is possible to connect. The gun has a traditional four-wheeled trolley and a folding shield, which contributes to stealth when firing at ground targets.
The automation of the gun worked according to the recoil scheme of the barrel with a short stroke. The monoblock barrel is made integral with the breech. The barrel bore was locked by a longitudinally sliding piston valve when it was turned. The mobile system rolled and rolled inside the cradle. The cradle is equipped with a hydraulic recoil brake, a buffer and a spring knurler. The barrel is equipped with a muzzle brake. On the left side of the cradle there is a magazine, into which clips of four shots were inserted. The features of the S-60 included the forced delivery of the cartridge into the chamber of the barrel, the extraction of the spent cartridge case and its removal outside the machine.
The installation of the gun included: a machine with a platform, aiming mechanisms, a balancing mechanism and a shield cover; automatic anti-aircraft sight; wagon. The platform of the machine rotated relative to the wagon on a ball chase. The machine is equipped with lifting and turning mechanisms, a trigger mechanism with a foot trigger. Guidance is possible with the help of manual mechanisms and a servo electric drive, in manual, semi-automatic or automatic mode. The balancing mechanism is spring-loaded.
Guidance of the gun is carried out by calculation using manual or electric drives. In this case, the sight or data from an external gun guidance station can be used. In the latter case, several S-60s can simultaneously work effectively on the same target. Guidance of the gun in both planes is carried out by means of an electric drive or manually. Moreover, during manual guidance, the lifting mechanism has one guidance speed, and the rotary mechanism has two. The lifting mechanism is mounted on a platform on the left side of the gun, and the swivel mechanism is on the right.
The S-60 is fed from clips with a capacity of 4 shots, which are manually loaded with an ammunition magazine located on the left side of the gun cradle. In the combat position, the gun rests on four screw lifts (one on each side of the gun) located on the folding shoulders, and if necessary, it can also be fired from the stowed position.
The 57 mm S-60 anti-aircraft gun is an automatic weapon that operates on the principle of a short recoil of the barrel, which is locked by turning the bolt. The barrel with a rifled channel ends with a single-chamber multi-window muzzle brake. A spring type knurler is installed on the barrel. The gun uses a piston-screw breech moving along the axis of the gun (it is opened manually before the first shot), a cylindrical-type cradle, two spring-loaded towing-type balancing mechanisms, a hydraulic spindle recoil brake with a liquid volume equalizer, a vector-type semi-automatic sight, shield cover, four-wheeled the chassis suspended on the springs of the road wheels, as well as the upper carriage machine with a platform on which there are seats for three attendants.
On the cradle there is a trigger mechanism, consisting of automatic and foot triggers, as well as a manual shutter retraction mechanism. The gun is equipped with equipment for cooling the barrel (after firing a burst of 40-50 shots), the principle of operation of which is based on pumping liquid through the barrel bore.
The S-60 complex includes a wheeled carriage, hung out with the help of jacks. The movable part of the carriage has space for two gunners. All-round horizontal guidance is provided with vertical guidance from -4 ° to + 85 °. The entire installation with a carriage weighs 4,8 tons.
The AZP-57 gun, despite its great age, still shows high performance. It is capable of hitting manpower and unprotected targets at ranges up to 5-6 km. The fight against armored vehicles in a wide range of ranges is also provided. Regular projectiles of various types at a distance of 1 km are capable of penetrating at least 95-100 mm of hom*ogeneous armor. This is enough to defeat any modern foreign armored vehicles, with the exception of tanks and machines based on them.
It should be noted that the 57-mm cannon surpasses the common 30-mm systems installed on various types of armored vehicles in terms of basic firing characteristics. This means that self-propelled guns with AZP-57 are able to effectively support their armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as destroy enemy vehicles from a greater distance.
The S-60 complex was considered as one of the main means of military air defense, in connection with which it was produced in a large series. According to various sources, several tens of thousands of such products were manufactured. The main recipient of the guns was the Soviet army. In addition, they were supplied to many friendly states.
The S-60 complex, which had just entered the troops, was almost immediately tested in combat in the Korean War. There, the insufficient firing range of the AZP-37 was once again confirmed. The positions of anti-aircraft gunners were attacked by American aircraft from a distance greater than their affected area.
The S-60 guns, in turn, proved their effectiveness, but then loading failures suddenly rained down. The nerves of the designers were shattered a lot before the true cause of the failures was revealed. It turned out that the manufacturer, in the best traditions of the Soviet industry, "out of production necessity" replaced the steel in the springs with another, after which they ceased to withstand the load.
The gun was made reliable, and design bureau representatives were sent to the PRC to help the fraternal country master the manufacture of the S-60, which the Chinese then sold on their own behalf to everyone as the Type-59. As in many other cases, the USSR generously shared its technological developments with the country of "people's democracy", while managing to not protect its copyrights in any way.
Serial production of the S-60 was carried out from 1950 to 1957. Barrels and installations were manufactured at factories No. 4, No. 7, No. 92, No. 235 and No. 946. In total, 5725 guns were produced, which were delivered to about 60 countries of the world. Until now, hundreds of S-60s continue to be in service or at least in storage.
In addition to the states of the former Soviet Union, it is in service with the armies of more than 35 countries, including the former Warsaw Pact, as well as Algeria, China, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and the former Yugoslavia. The gun was produced in the USSR, as well as under license in Poland and China (Type 59).
By the early 2000s, the Burevestnik Central Research Institute had developed a turret artillery module based on a variant of the S-60 artillery system with a modified ammunition supply system. In particular, the new turret was offered for modernization to foreign operators of Soviet-made PT-76 light tanks, whose standard gun D-56T has now completely lost its combat effectiveness. The reincarnation of the S-60 penetrates up to 100 mm of hom*ogeneous armor, that is, it hits any modern tank on the side.
As part of the AU220M, a universal uninhabited combat module, the 57-mm gun was again presented in Nizhny Tagil at the Russian Expo Arms-2013 defense exhibition. A similar module on the BMP-3 chassis was exhibited in the same place two years later as the Dragoon BMP and, finally, as part of the Derivation-PVO anti-aircraft artillery system, the 2A90 index gun, which replaced the single-chamber jet-type muzzle brake to a new, much more complex design, essentially remains the same.
country
https://milmag.pl/en/65-years-of-armament-production-in-tarnow/">MILMAG Military MagazineThe Soviet 57mm automatic anti-aircraft gun was produced under license in Poland in Zaklady Mechaniczne Tarnów in the years 1958-1964. The cannon was constructed in the second half of the 1940s in the construction office of Vasily Grabin. It was designed to fight enemy planes and helicopters, as well as targets dropped by parachutes, and to fight with fire in front of ground and surface targets. It entered the armament of the Soviet Army in 1950, in the same year its mass production began. The cannon was exported to many countries, several of them (including Poland) received a license for its production, and its unlicensed copy was also produced in China.In 2017 Zaklady Mechaniczne Tarnów (ZMT) celebrated their centenary. The first 35 years of company`s history are connected tothe railway. Last 2/3 of their activity focused on manufacturing industry and armament production for Polish Army and export. On the 1st of July 1951, the works were transformed into Zaklady Mechaniczne Tarnów. It was tomanufacture special devices and the first produced item was the Soviet 37-mm wz 1939 (61-K) anti-aircraft gun.At the same time (1950-1953) the Korean War was raging and the ZMT was tomanufacture special mechanical devices and machine tools. Mechanical devices actually meant military equipment. In the second half of 1951, preparations for such production were started with the manufacturing beginning one year later. The rise of military production happened at the end of 1950`s and modern weapons were manufactured. The most important was the 57-mm S-60 wz 1950. towed anti-aircraft gun. The modernized version S-60 MB is the main element of the Blenda system used bycurrent Polish Navy. The basic equipment of anti-aircraft units in the Polish People's Army introduced from the late 1950s. The cannon is designed to fight air targets at low and medium altitudes as well as ground and surface armored targets. The cannon could fire high-explosive tracer and armor-piercing tracer rounds. Projectile weight 2.8 kg, cartridge weight 6.71 kg. The anti-aircraft artillery regiments organized in Poland and stationed until the 1980s had batteries equipped with six such cannons and a guidance station common to all cannons. An improved version of the S-60 cannon , marked S-68, was in service with the ZSU-57-2 self-propelled gun.The modernized version of the cannon, marked S-60 MB, is the main armament element of the armament, e.g. 9th Naval Anti- Aircraft Squadron (12 guns) stationed in Ustka. This squadron took participation in October 2010 in NATO maneuvers under the code name "Anakonda 2010" in Wicko Morskie.Work is underway on further modernization of these cannons, e.g. on adapting them to the role of automatic guards. The cannons would be equipped with automatic devices enabling them to independently rotate, aim, load and fire, as well as an advanced electronic system enabling detection of danger (e.g. incoming mortar shells) and automatic opening of fire in order to neutralize it. Cannons modernized in this way could be used to defend military bases, e.g. during foreign missions.In the 1990s, the Research and Production Center for Professional Electronics Radwar SA (Poland) upgraded S-60 guns for use in the Umbrella-57 anti-aircraft artillery system, which interacts with the N-22 radar to detect low-flying targets. It consists of a battery of four S-60M guns, a WD-95 fire control vehicle, a TZKM surveillance monocular, and a PAD-20 field generator.
The S-60M guns are equipped with a new electric drive system and digital systems for interacting with the fire control vehicle, so they can be aimed at the target automatically or semi-automatically, as well as manually (emergency). The WD-95 fire control vehicle provides reception and display of information received from the radar about the situation in the air, detection and tracking of targets using a television camera or FLIR (up to 10 km), target selection for destruction, automatic guidance of each gun, reception of coordinate information targets from the TZKM monocular, whose main task is to search and track targets.
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