Direct proof of use
The ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun is directly documented in Iraqi service during the 1990 Gulf War. The National Museum of the United States Air Force identifies its displayed Soviet-built ZPU-4 as a four-KPV 14.5 mm gun on a four-wheel carriage and states that Iraq used the type in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.
Battlefield image records corroborate that presence after the ground offensive. A U.S. National Archives/DVIDS public-domain record dated February 28, 1991, places an Iraqi ZPU-4 behind a transport truck on the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after Iraqi forces retreated during Operation Desert Storm. Australian War Memorial records separately show a ZPU-4 abandoned by Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Sabre on February 27, 1991, and another ZPU-4 in a captured-equipment collection point established by the British 4th Armoured Brigade at the close of the Gulf War.
Sources: Vladimirov KPV ZPU-4, NARA Basra-Kuwait Highway ZPU-4, AWM Desert Sabre ZPU-4, AWM Enemy Equipment Collection Point ZPU-4
Campaign timeline
The dated evidence clusters around the coalition ground phase. GAO's Desert Storm air-campaign review describes low-altitude delivery as dangerous throughout the war because of Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and infrared surface-to-air missiles, while the museum record identifies the ZPU-4 as one of the Iraqi anti-aircraft guns present in that same 1991 campaign.
On February 27, 1991, Australian War Memorial metadata records a ZPU-4 abandoned by Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Sabre, the coalition invasion of Iraq and Kuwait. On February 28, 1991, the NARA/DVIDS record places another Iraqi ZPU-4 on the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after Iraqi forces retreated. By March 4, 1991, Australian War Memorial records place a captured Iraqi ZPU-4 at a British 4th Armoured Brigade enemy equipment collection point in Kuwait.
Sources: GAO Desert Storm Air Campaign, Vladimirov KPV ZPU-4, AWM Desert Sabre ZPU-4, NARA Basra-Kuwait Highway ZPU-4, AWM Enemy Equipment Collection Point ZPU-4
Battlefield role
In Iraqi service, the ZPU-4's documented role was low-altitude air defense and force protection. The Air Force museum record describes the system as an anti-aircraft gun and gives its 5,000-foot effective range, while the Federal of American Scientists reference identifies it as a quadruple 14.5 mm anti-aircraft version of the Soviet KPV heavy machine gun and states that Iraqi forces used it during Operation Desert Storm.
The surviving Gulf War records support fielding, use, abandonment, and capture of Iraqi ZPU-4s rather than a named firing incident or aircraft loss attributed specifically to the type. The archive photographs place the guns with retreating or abandoned Iraqi materiel in Kuwait and Iraq after coalition advances, so this page treats the strongest source-backed claim as Iraqi air-defense use and later battlefield recovery.
Sources: Vladimirov KPV ZPU-4, FAS ZPU-4 Type 56 Anti-Aircraft Artillery, NARA Basra-Kuwait Highway ZPU-4, AWM Desert Sabre ZPU-4, AWM Enemy Equipment Collection Point ZPU-4
