DESCRIPTION:
The ASU-85 has a PT-76 type chassis with six road wheels (with a wider space between the first and second). Its box-shaped, low-silhouetted hull has a sharply sloping glacis plate in front. The main armament is an 85-mm gun. The gun has a double-baffle muzzle brake and a bore evacuator on its long, thin barrel. A large IR searchlight for the gunner is mounted above the mantlet. The gun also has a smaller IR searchlight for the commander at the right. The armor-covered crew area is NBC-sealed. The secondary armament is a 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun. Some ASU-85s also mount a 12.7-mm AA machine gun DShK.
CAPABILITIES:
The ASU-85 provides mobile armored striking power in the assault gun battalion of airborne divisions. Fixed-wing aircraft (including the An-12/CUB) can transport it. Helicopters (including the Mi-6, Mi-10, and Mi-26) can also transport it. It is normally air-landed; it can also be air-dropped using a high capacity multichute system.
The ASU-85 is a versatile weapon designed to serve principally in an antitank role. It is also capable of providing general fire support. It fires a HVAP round which will penetrate 180-mm armor at 1,000 meters. IR equipment gives the ASU-85 good nightfighting capability. It has a 240-hp, V-6, water-cooled diesel engine. It carries a crew of four: the commander, the gunner, the loader, and the driver.
LIMITATIONS:
The ASU-85's suspension uses components of the PT-76 light tank. However, it has no waterjets and is not amphibious. It has relatively thin armor: the glacis plate is only 40 millimeters thick, and the upper hull side only 15 millimeters thick.
REMARKS:
Introduced in 1962, the ASU-85 was a follow-on to the 57-mm airborne assault gun ASU-57, which had been in use in airborne units since 1957. The ASU-57 had very light armor (6 millimeters). Since 1962, it has become less common. The ASU-85 is widely used by the Soviet and Polish airborne divisions; however, the airborne howitzer 2S9 may replace it.