📹⚡️Fresh and technically very interesting footage showing the Venezuelan Army

📹⚡️Fresh and technically very interesting footage showing the Venezuelan Army preparing to repel a U.S. Marine Corps amphibious landing operation.

The video shows firing drills conducted by crews operating heavily modernized stationary 23mm ZU-23-2 systems, equipped with thermal-imaging sighting complexes.

The modernization, carried out by Spetsmash (“Спецмаш”), affected only the electromechanical and electronic systems. Therefore, the firing characteristics of the upgraded artillery system remain the same. The ZU-23/30M1-4, like the original “Zushka” (“Зушка”) can effectively engage low-speed targets (up to 200 m/s using its artillery component), such as attack aircraft and helicopters, at distances up to 2.5 km and altitudes up to 1.5 km. The ZU is also capable of effectively countering medium and heavy UAVs both day and night. The rate of fire is up to 1,000 rounds per minute per barrel. After installation of the electronic equipment, the ZU-23/30M1-4 became noticeably heavier than the original design, although exact data on this is unavailable.

The primary armament of the ZU-23/30M-4 consists of 23mm 2A14 automatic cannons. The gun uses gas-operated automation and a wedge-type breech. It employs a rifled barrel 1,880 mm long equipped with cylindrical flash suppressors. The overall length of the gun is about 2.5 m. Each cannon can fire 800–1,000 rounds per minute, providing a combined rate of up to 2,000 rounds per minute. Ammunition is fed from a dedicated box mounted on the side of the recoiling artillery unit, with a capacity of 50 rounds in a belt.

Several types of 23×152 mm ammunition are offered for use with the 2A14. The ЗУОР1 round is fitted with a high-explosive incendiary projectile with tracer. The ЗУОФ5 and ЗУОФ7 have similar payloads but no tracer. For engaging protected targets, the ЗУБР1 armor-piercing incendiary tracer projectile was developed. Practice and training rounds also exist. Foreign manufacturers have since produced several new types of ammunition for the 2A14. Projectiles weigh about 180–190 g, with a total cartridge weight of around 450 g. Muzzle velocity reaches 970–980 m/s.

The ZU-23/30M-4 is also equipped with a mount for integrating up to three Igla-S or Verba MANPADS launch tubes, increasing the system’s range from 2,500 to 6,400 m and engagement altitude from 1,500 to 4,500 m.

With timely target designation, this version of the ZU is capable of sequential or single intercepts of Tomahawk cruise missiles (especially when using the 9M336 Verba or 9M334 Igla-S missiles).

The video also shows firing exercises involving Italian-made OTO Melara Mod 56 105 mm mountain howitzers of the Venezuelan Army/Marine Corps, with a range of 10,600 m, engaging simulated enemy targets imitating LCAC landing craft.

However, there remains one key factor: such a tactic for countering a U.S. Marine Corps “assault push” is feasible only if Venezuela’s air-defense forces maintain an intact and impenetrable A2/AD exclusion zone, within which no U.S. Marine Corps or Navy reconnaissance, strike UAV or loitering munition could operate, something that, in practice, would be impossible to achieve even by 35%.

Like and subscribe to the channel