Hobby Boss 83896 1/35 Russian ASU-57 Airborne Tank Destroyer

The ASU-57 was a small, lightly constructed Soviet assault gun specifically designed for use by Soviet airborne divisions. From 1960 it was replaced by the ASU-85. The ASU-57 was designed to be a light-weight assault gun that could be air-dropped and deployed by rocket-assisted parachute along with the troops. It was lightly armored and armed with a 57 mm gun Ch-51, a development of World War II ZIS-2 but with some similarities to the Ch-26. From 1954, an improved 57mm gun Ch-51M with much shorter double-baffle muzzle brake was fitted. The ASU-57’s engine was taken from the GAZ-M-20 “Pobeda” civilian car.

The ASU-57 was a successful design, and saw service with Soviet airborne divisions for around 20 years before being replaced by the ASU-85. During its years of operation 54 vehicles would have been assigned to each airbornedivision.