The S-60 gun provided aerial defense to Mechanized Infantry Divisions and Car Divisions, which had an assigned regiment. This regiment consists of four batteries of 6 pieces each. The Parachute divisions had only three 6-pieces batteries.At the end of the 70s, the arrival of SAM missiles relegated the S-60 to its demise, but the experiences obtained from Vietnam War changed the course of that history. The North Vietnamese forces demonstrated that these guns were much more effective against low-level aircraft than SAM missiles, so it was considered that this guns were the ideal complement and helped to a much more effective defense.This gun has APCBC-HE-T ammunition with anti-tank capability and two types of HE-T projectiles for antiaircraft use. The anti-tank ammunition can penetrate 96mm of armour at 1,000 meters or 106mm at 500 meters distance, which is not enough to destroy a tank, but enough to destroy any other combat vehicle.China developed a copy of this gun, designated as Type 59. The ammunition used is practically the same as the Soviet model, and likewise, two guns of this type served as the main weapons of a self-propelled vehicle called Type-80, which is another copy of the Soviet ZSU 57-2 vehicle.The maximum effective range against aircrafts is up to 4,000 meters with optical aim and up to 6,000 meters with fire radar targeting. In ground support fire reaches 12,000 meters with its 2.82 kg round. The maximum fire rate is 120 rpm for a short period of time or a sustained rate of 70 rpm.There are single, double and quad assemblies for naval use, and towed versions with a single barrel. In addition, existed several self-propelled vehicles with two barrels assembly. The S-60 was widely exported to almost 60 countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the former Warsaw Pact, totaling more than 5,000 pieces, many of which remain in service.
