ASU-85

ASU-85

PT-76B

SU-100P

ASU-85

PT-76B

SU-100P

USSR

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:63 000

Purchase:200 000

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Description

The ASU-85 is a Rank IV Russian tank destroyer with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows". It was designed to provide the VDV (Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska), the Soviet airborne forces, with an air-portable self-propelled gun for independent fire support and anti-tank capability in support of paratroopers during airborne operations.

General info

Survivability and armour

The front upper glacis plate, while only 45 mm thick, is quite heavily sloped and can occasionally ricochet rounds. The mantlet is also quite thick and rounded, and it can also bounce the occasional lucky shot.

However, the rest of the ASU-85 is very thinly armoured and vulnerable to even heavy machine guns. It is especially vulnerable to aircraft strafing.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	45 mm (60°) Front glacis 45 mm (37°) Lower glacis 50 mm Driver port	6 mm	6 mm (40°) Upper 6 mm (18°) Lower	6 mm
Superstructure	45 mm (60°) Front glacis 100 mm Gun mantlet	13 mm (37-38°)	6 mm	13 mm Front 6 mm Rear

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick, tracks are 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	49	6	15.9	298	401	18.74	25.22
Realistic	45	6		186	210	11.7	13.21

The ASU-85 is based on the PT-76B and uses the same engine. It is somewhat heavier, however, and the mobility thus suffers comparatively. With a top speed of under 50 km/h, the ASU-85 is relatively slow for such a lightly armoured vehicle, but it is adequate enough for repositioning when needed. The ASU-85 also has a fairly slow reverse speed and only one reverse gear, inherited from the PT-76B.

It should also be noted that the ASU-85 is not amphibious, unlike the PT-76B it is based on.

Armaments

Main armament

The ASU-85 is armed with the 85 mm D-70, a significantly more powerful gun compared to the wartime Soviet 85 mm ZiS S-53 and D-5T guns and comparable in capability to the German 8,8 cm L/71 guns. The mounting has only 4° of gun depression due to the restricted size of the vehicle, but has a fairly generous amount of traverse for a casemate tank destroyer. It has a relatively low rate-of-fire for its calibre, reflecting the rather cramped crew compartment of the ASU-85.

The standard shell is the BR-372 APBC shell with a lethal explosive filler. It has an excellent muzzle velocity and is accurate at long ranges. It will also easily penetrate most things that the ASU-85 may encounter. Anything that cannot be penetrated by the APBC shell will almost certainly be penetrable by the 3BK7 HEAT-FS round. Boasting 300 mm of penetration, it is capable of punching straight through a Tiger II's upper glacis and does not lose penetration over distance. However, it suffers the usual drawbacks of HEAT rounds (cannot go through obstacles like trees or fences) and is significantly less lethal than the APBC shell. The muzzle velocity is also lower, which can complicate aiming at long ranges.

85 mm D-70
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
39			-4°/+15°	±15°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	4.2	8.5	10.4	11.5	12.2
Realistic	4.2	4.9	6.0	6.6	7.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
11.2	9.9	9.1	8.6

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
BR-372	APBC	230	227	214	199	186	172
OF-372	HE	11	11	11	11	11	11
3BK7	HEATFS	300	300	300	300	300	300

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
BR-372	APBC	1040	9.3	1.2	15	85	+4°	48°	63°	71°
OF-372	HE	1010	9.7	0.1	0.3	740	+0°	79°	80°	81°
3BK7	HEATFS	925	7.2	0.1	0.1	1,590	+0°	65°	72°	75°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks on the ASU-85.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
39	33 (+6)	26 (+13)	19 (+20)	13 (+26)	7 (+32)	1 (+38)	No

Front empty: 26 (+13)
Sides only: 33 (+6)

Machine guns

7.62 mm SGMT
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (250)				600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

The ASU-85 is a veritable glass cannon that relies on stealth and/or distance in order to survive on the battlefield. It is very vulnerable if caught in the open, especially to planes due to the very weak roof armour. The 85 mm gun is capable of handling almost any tank likely to be encountered by the ASU-85. Unfortunately, the ASU-85 lacks the mobility of its predecessor, the ASU-57, and thus has to adopt a more passive playstyle. The stock APBC round is excellent for ambushes, which tend to involve a lot of side shots where the lethality of the explosive filler is valuable, especially with the long reload time of the gun. The HEAT-FS round is better suited for medium/long-range fighting, since it does not lose penetration over distance.

The ASU-85 has a rather unorthodox method of using its smoke screen. Unlike most vehicles, which use smoke shells, singular canisters, or canister clusters, the ASU-85 uses two large drum like structures at the rear. When deployed, these will drop away, so it is relatively easy to tell from close range whether or not an ASU-85 has smoke or not, and how many it has. Due to the orientation of the drums, the smoke screen will actually form behind the tank and take about 2-3 seconds to fully envelope the assault gun.

Common opponent weakspots:

• Tiger II (P), (H), 105 mm: Turret cheeks. HEAT-FS can penetrate the hull front.
• Panther II: APBC can penetrate the turret face. HEAT-FS can penetrate the hull front.
• T29: Lower glacis. There are also weakspots in the gun mantlet, but they may be hard to hit at anything but close range.
• Caernavron: Turret ring and lower glacis.
• A39 Tortoise: Area surrounding the hull machine gun port.
• T95: Cupolas may be penetrated but do not trigger the explosive filler of AP rounds.
• Jagdtiger: HEAT-FS can penetrate the hull front and superstructure.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	Airstrike
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	Smoke Grenade	NVD
IV	Transmission	Engine		Rangefinder	Improved Optics	3BK7

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent 85 mm gun
• Competitive stock APBC round with explosive filler
• Access to HEAT-FS with 300 mm of penetration
• Tiny profile
• Access to a coaxial machine gun
• Access to night vision devices

Cons:

• Slow gun elevation and traverse
• Slow reload for an 85 mm gun
• Lightly armoured everywhere besides the front, especially vulnerable to aircraft strafing
• Poor reverse speed
• Mediocre mobility, considering the light armour
• Poor gun depression

History

Development

A new assault gun was requested by the Armed Forces sometime before 1953. Due to the success of the ASU-57, they tasked the OKB-40 design bureau headed by Nikolaj Astrov to design the vehicle. The design, designated Object 573, was ready for tests in the latter half of 1953. Constant changes and improvement was made from the span of 1956 to 1957. The design used the chassis of the PT-76 amphibious light tank design, though it did not have the same amphibious feature and had a new engine propelling it. The armament was an 85 mm D-70 gun derived from the 85 mm D-48 anti-tank gun. The design could carry 45 rounds inside and could fire a variety of rounds up to 1 km away. Secondary armament for the vehicle was a GMT or PKT coaxial machine gun. The improved design was going to accepted and enter production in 1958 as the SU-85 (despite the existence of a vehicle of the same name), but this was again delayed when the Ministry of Defense ordered an armoured roof to be installed. The design was to enter production in 1961, but by then the design was rather outdated for army forces usage. Thus, when the vehicle entered production, it was taken up by the VDV, the Soviet Airborne Forces, and renamed the ASU-85. The ASU-85 was produced from 1959 to 1966, while staying in service from 1959 all the way to 1993.

Usage

The Soviet airborne forces primarily used the ASU-85 as a light infantry support/assault gun. Advancements in air-drop techniques and the advent of helicopters made its air deployment a more viable option in the early 1960s. The Soviet Union deployed 31 ASU-85s to each of its airborne divisions in and assault gun battalion. The Soviet Union used the ASU-85 during the Soviet-Afghan War with the airborne troops stationed there.

The ASU-85 was only given out to Poland and Vietnam. Poland used the ASU-85s in the same manner as the Soviet Union, with 31 vehicles in each airborne divisions. The ASU-85 are still in service in the Vietnamese military, with interests on improving their technical performances in early 2016.

The ASU-85 also serves as the genesis of other support vehicles using the derived PT-76 chassis. The most notable vehicle using a similar chassis was the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" anti-aircraft system.

Media

Skin and Camouflages for the ASU-85 in Warthunder Live.

The ASU-85 in Soviet Airborne service

References

Citations

Bibliography

• [World News] Vietnam may update Soviet-era ASU-85s

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] ASU-85: Death from the Skies
• [Wikipedia] ASU-85