The first dedicated Soviet mount for anti-aircraft machine guns was developed around 1928 by Fedor Tokarev and was adopted for service in 1931.

As an infantry heavy support weapon it used a two-wheeled trolley which unfolded into a tripod for anti-aircraft use.

The quad-barrel ZPU-4 uses a four-wheel carriage similar to that once used by the obsolete 25 mm automatic anti-aircraft gun M1940.

The single-barrel ZPU-1 is carried on a two-wheeled carriage and can be broken down into several 80-kilogram pieces for transport over rough ground.

In the Russian military, it was replaced by the newer and more powerful ZU-23 23 mm twin automatic anti-aircraft gun.

[5] In North Korea, ZPU systems have been modified to be able to be directed by a MR-104 "Drum Tilt", where the guns are shown to be fired without personnel manning them.

[7] Czech company Excalibur Army developed the MR-2 Viktor mobile gun air defense system consisting of a ZPU-2 equipped with day/night sights mounted on a pickup truck chassis upgraded with a reinforced suspension and modified body.