| Illustration by Belle Mellor |
Posted on 12/10/2008 5:58:01 PM PST by neverdem
Quiet, pleaseDec 4th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Military technology: Using rubber rather than steel tracks on military vehicles could reduce wear and tear on both soldiers and equipment
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RATTLING along in the “washing-machine environment” of an armoured personnel-carrier (APC) on steel tracks can shake the soldiers inside to the point of exhaustion, according to Dan Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think-tank in Arlington, Virginia. And J.G. Brunbech, an APC expert at the Danish Army Material Command in Oksboel, observes that the crew’s limbs are prone to becoming prickly and numb, and their hands get tired, because they must grip the vehicle’s safety handles tightly. The vehicle itself suffers, too. The vibrations cause rapid wear and tear—not to mention outright damage, especially to electronics.
In the past, engineers have tried to reduce these vibrations by fixing rubber pads to the treads. The pads wear out quickly, however, and often get torn or even melted. But now tough, new rubbers have come to the rescue. Moreover, these rubbers are not being used just as pads. Instead, they are crafted into enormous rubber bands that replace the steel tracks completely. The Danes are converting their entire APC fleet to rubber tracks. This will increase the amount of time a soldier can safely spend on board from just one and a half hours to ten hours.
Details of how the new super-rubbers are made are still classified, but the results are not, and they are impressive. Rubber tracks weigh less than half as much as their steel counterparts. That, in turn, allows the weight of the suspension system to be reduced by 25%. All this can cut fuel consumption by as much as 30%, says TACOM, the American army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command.
Rubber tracks also provide more traction, in part because, being lighter, they can be made wider than steel tracks. That means vehicles fitted with them do not get stuck in the mud. The vehicles accelerate faster, too, and drivers say they handle almost as well on paved roads as wheeled vehicles do. On top of this, they are quieter. That has two benefits. One is that crews are often able to talk to each other without resorting to intercoms. The other is that it is harder for the enemy to hear them coming. According to Curt Aspelund, the head of tracks and suspension development at BAE Systems, a British defence firm that is collaborating with TACOM to design a new APC called the Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV), rubber tracks will reduce the distance from which the vehicle can be heard by 40%.
Rubber tracks are more reliable, too. Tracked military vehicles are notorious for breaking down. On average, the segments of a steel track must be repaired or replaced after just 400km (250 miles) of use. Carrying spare segments adds to a vehicle’s weight. Rubber tracks, by contrast, usually last more than 3,000km.
They are also kinder to roads. Traditionally, of course, that did not matter much. The whole point of a tank or an APC is that it is the ultimate off-road vehicle. But the growth of peacekeeping operations, in which showing the flag to the locals is an important tactic, means that road-friendly vehicles are becoming more desirable. The locals will certainly not love you if you chew up their tarmac and make their streets impassable.
As a result of all this, Soucy International of Drummondville, Quebec, one of the firms that makes the tracks, reports booming business. The armed forces of both Canada and Norway have converted almost all their APCs to tracks made by Soucy. Those of several other countries, including Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore and Sweden, are following suit or are in the advanced stages of testing the tracks. France plans to start tests next year. And although America has not sent APCs with rubber tracks into action, they form part of Future Combat Systems, the Department of Defence’s main modernisation programme.
At the moment, rubber tracks can support only vehicles weighing less than 20 tonnes. They are not strong enough for 50-tonne battle tanks. But this is changing. The MGV, for example, will weigh 30 tonnes, and Canada recently began a trial of rubber tracks on the Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light (MTVL), a 22-tonne APC. If the MTVL passes muster it will join Canada’s rubber-tracked 20-tonne M113 APCs in Afghanistan. Soucy, meanwhile, is developing rubber tracks for full-sized tanks. Warfare, it seems, is about to get quieter.
IIRC, they didn't do too well in Vietnam. I don't recall seeing M114s there, just Germany with the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
treadhead ping!
Ping
The White M-3 halftrack of WWII had this type of “rubber band” track.
Sort of gives new meaning to “breaking track”, doesn’t it?
Well, point obviously taken re ride comfort; never been in a tank but I’ve been a cat-skinner and I know what that rides like - and that’s in the dirt, not on any hard surface.
But: How fire-resistant are rubber tracks? I’d assume we’re comparing with steel tracks here rather than tires.
Slightly different application, but similar idea: http://zahmandmatson.com/deere-track-tractors.htm
Last I heard, most tanker fatalities have come from gases and fumes from fires and explosives. I believe many folks think that concussion and flying metal tends to kill the tank crew. Apparently that has not been historically true. So now we’ll have burning rubber in that mix as well.
Take a look at some of the rubber tracked equipment Caterpillar and Case make. They use them in the muck fields around here. They work great in muck and sand. If they work on the heavy equipment around here, they would be ideal for the enviroments the military have to deal with.
Thanks for the ping. I hope *snippy* is still here! She and her hubby had a pretty kewl birdshop going, IIRC.
Thanks for the info. I liked the World War II German halftrack that had three or four rows of seats. I believe it was a prime mover for towed artillery.
Thanks for the link.
Halftrack with quad-50's.
Thanks for the pic.
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