ASU-85 Airborne Assault Gun

Gary's Combat Vehicle Reference Guide

ASU is the Russian designation for the airborne assault gun (Aviadezantnaya Samochodnaya Ustanovka) and 85 is for the caliber of the gun. The ASU-85 is the replacement for the ASU-57 57mm, which is no longer in service with the Russian Army. The ASU-85 is used primarily in an anti-tank role.

The ASU-85 has no amphibious capability. It has an all-welded steel hull with the fighting compartment at the front and the engine and transmission at the rear. The driver is seated at the front of the vehicle on the right with the commander seated behind the driver. The gunner and loader are seated on the left of the main armament.

Recognition features:

• No turret.
• Six rubber-tired road wheels with a distinct gap between the first and second road wheels. The drive sprocket is at the rear, the idler at the front and no track return rollers (nonsupported track).
• An engine and transmission at the rear of the hull with two large square hatches in the roof for access to the engine for maintenance.
• Air inlet and outlet louvers on the top of the roof at the left rear with the exhaust outlet in the rear of the hull on the left side below the external stowage box.
• A large metal stowage box at the rear of the hull, each side of which is a long-range fuel drum.
• Box on front left fender.
• A vision block to the front of the driver with a periscope above it and another vision block in the right side of the hull.
• A commander's single-piece hatch cover in the roof that opens forwards and can be locked vertically.
• A periscope in front of the commander's hatch above which is an infrared searchlight.
• A single-piece hatch cover in the roof that opens to left and has a periscope. The gunner and loader enter and leave through this hatch cover.
• A single vision block and firing port in the left side of the hull.
• Another two hatches in the roof of the vehicle behind the forward hatches, both open forwards.
• A single vision block is fitted in the rear of the fighting compartment on the right side.
• A well-sloped glacis plate and splash board that prevents water rushing up the glacis when the vehicle is fording.

There are no known variants of the ASU-85.