Image source: Photo: © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
During the operation to liberate Grozny in January 1995, Russian troops, along with anti-aircraft missile and cannon "Tunguska", also used older ZSU "Shilka".
After the city was almost cleared of illegal formations, it was possible to communicate there with the fighters who fought on the ZSU-23-4. They admitted that before the start of this war they had no idea what kind of fighting they would have to conduct. Of course, it was known that machines of their type were successfully used in Afghanistan, but in combat training they focused more on countering enemy aircraft and helicopters.
The first target they managed to hit were snipers firing from a multi-storey building. A short salvo from a quadruple 23-mm cannon, and the militants were silenced forever. And in the course of other battles, they had to "mow down" Dudaev.
The big disadvantage of the "Shilka", in their opinion, was its insufficient security - vulnerability even from a large-caliber machine gun. The ideal option would be a tank-based combat vehicle with a pair of 30 mm guns and a good sighting system that would act confidently, including at night.
Interestingly, according to the experience of the first Chechen in Chelyabinsk, a Viper tank support vehicle was created based on the T-72AV, just with 2A72 guns, but everything was limited to the production of a prototype and in the second war Grozny had to be stormed using the same equipment as before.
