Wheeled tanks are now in the arsenal of the armies of many countries. The most famous and one of the most powerful is the Italian Centauro, armed with a 120mm cannon. At the same time, wheeled armored vehicles with a tank-caliber cannon as the main armament are in South Africa, the USA, China, and France. It is France that can be called the country in which the concept of wheeled tanks has taken root best of all. A large number of cannon armored vehicles were created in France even before the outbreak of World War II; work on the creation of such vehicles continued in this country after the end of the conflict. In turn, in neighboring Germany, an attempt to get their own wheeled tank fell on the period of the end of the Cold War and led to the creation of an experimental vehicle Radkampfwagen 90, which did not go into mass production.
The history of the appearance of wheeled tanks
It was France that had a great influence on the attempt of the Germans to create their own wheeled tank. Before the war, a very successful Panar 178 armored car was designed and put into mass production in this country. The AMD 35 was armed with a 25 mm cannon, which could effectively deal with light German tanks, and the frontal armor thickness reached 26 mm (for comparison, the armor thickness of the Soviet T-26 light tank did not exceed 15 mm). The Germans quite actively used the captured French cannon armored vehicles throughout the war, transferring them to the SS units and using them to fight the partisans.
Heavy armored car Sd. Kfz. 231 and the Radkampfwagen 90 standing behind it
At the same time, the Germans themselves during the war years actively used a heavy 8-wheeled armored car, which in its concept and capabilities was as close as possible to the post-war wheeled tanks. We are talking about the Sd. Kfz.234 family, whose combat vehicles were produced in versions with a 50-mm tank cannon installed in a rotating turret, and in an anti-tank version with a 75-mm cannon installed in an open wheelhouse, which was protected by a gun shield in front. However, after the war, for many years in Germany, no work was carried out on the further development of this concept, and in France, on the contrary, wheeled armored vehicles armed with cannons, which made it possible to fight against enemy tanks, continued to develop actively.
It was France that achieved the greatest success in creating various armored vehicles with cannon armament, the latest models of which could already be safely attributed to wheeled tanks. This was largely due to the real needs of the French armed forces, which, after the end of World War II, participated in several colonial wars, having among their opponents not regular units, but weak, poorly armed and insufficiently trained formations that fought for their independence in French Indochina and in Algeria. In such conditions, the lack of armor was not a problem, and rather powerful guns - 75-mm and 90-mm provided the necessary firepower. At the same time, the French wheeled vehicles were distinguished by excellent dynamic characteristics, their speed made it possible to quickly retreat from the battlefield if something began to go not according to the plans of the French command.
Heavy armored vehicle (wheeled tank) AMX-10RC
The pinnacle of French technical thought in the field of creating wheeled armored vehicles with powerful cannon armament was a full-fledged AMX-10RC wheeled tank armed with a 105 mm cannon. This armored vehicle was developed by specialists from a joint venture between GIAT and Renault, commissioned by the French armed forces. The main purpose of the AMX-10RC is to conduct active reconnaissance, while a wheeled tank can effectively fight against enemy armored vehicles. The AMX-10RC was mass-produced from 1976 to 1994; currently, more than 200 heavy armored vehicles of this type are in service with the French army.
German attempt to create a wheeled tank
In many ways, it was under the influence of their neighbors in the FRG in the 1980s that they thought about creating their own wheeled tank. The Bundeswehr ordered the creation of a heavy reconnaissance vehicle to the engineers of the famous Daimler Benz concern. In fact, a wheeled tank destroyer was being developed that could be produced in large batches at a lower cost compared to main battle tanks. Massiveness and good weapons, according to the developers and the military, would allow the use of a new combat vehicle, including against the "red tank hordes" represented by the armored vehicles of the USSR and the countries of the Warsaw Pact organization. The main criteria that the designers and the military laid down in the new car were not only high mobility, but also booking acceptable for cars of this class. In addition to the French AMX-10RC wheeled tank, the Germans also drew inspiration from their own production equipment. So the Bundeswehr was already armed with a wheeled (8x8) SpPz 2 Luchs reconnaissance vehicle, armed with a 20-mm automatic cannon, and a TPz 1 Fuchs wheeled armored personnel carrier.
Combat reconnaissance vehicle SpPz 2 Luchs
Armored personnel carrier TPz 1 Fuchs
The prototype of the new combat vehicle was ready in 1983 and received the designation Radkampfwagen 90 (wheeled tank 90), while the "90" in the name did not mean the caliber of the gun used, but the estimated year of the beginning of the introduction of the new wheeled armored vehicles into service. The total combat weight of the prototype exceeded 30 tons, since the developers did not need to provide the vehicle with buoyancy. This also made it possible to provide the car with a sufficiently powerful reservation. In the frontal part of the hull, the thickness of the armor reached 50-60 mm, while the armor plates were placed at rational angles of inclination. Such armor at medium ranges of battle could withstand shelling and 30-mm automatic cannons, which were armed with the Soviet BMP-2.
For a wheeled tank, the Germans chose a classic tank layout with the location of the engine compartment in the rear of the combat vehicle. In the front of the hull, a control compartment with a mechanic drive was located, then in the middle of the hull there was a fighting compartment, above which a rotating tower was installed from the Leopard 1A3 main battle tank. The turret housed the main armament - a rifled 105 mm L7A3 tank gun and a 7.62 mm MG3A1 machine gun paired with it, which was a further modernization of the extremely successful MG42 single machine gun. The chassis of the combat vehicle made it possible to install various types of weapons and other towers without any problems. There were options for creating an anti-aircraft version of a wheeled combat vehicle, as well as installing various reconnaissance equipment and communications. The crew of the wheeled tank consisted of 4 people: vehicle commander, driver, gunner and loader.
Radkampfwagen 90
A powerful hydropneumatic independent suspension with variable ground clearance was specially developed for the wheeled tank. This was necessary, since the vehicle had a large mass, and the designers provided for the possibility of installing other modules of weapons and military equipment. In the future, they considered the possibility of installation on a wheeled chassis and turrets from the main battle tank "Leopard-2" (or prototypes as close as possible to it) with a 120-mm smooth-bore gun, which would seriously increase the wheeled tank's capabilities to combat armored vehicles of a potential enemy. It is worth noting that the combat mass of the vehicle provided an advantage in this regard and untied the hands of the designers. At the same time, the Italians for their Centauro wheeled tank and the French for the AMX-10RC, which were significantly lighter than the German prototype, had to resort to various technical solutions in order to minimize the effects of the recoil of a powerful tank gun.
The heart of the Radkampfwagen 90 combat vehicle was an engine that was unusually powerful for wheeled armored vehicles. The Germans installed a 12-cylinder four-stroke V-twin turbocharged diesel engine with an output of 830 hp in the body. (610 kW). This engine was more powerful than the V-46 tank diesel engine, which was installed on the Soviet T-72 tanks (780 hp), which had an even greater combat weight. The installation of a powerful diesel engine provided the wheeled tank with excellent speed characteristics. When driving on the highway, the car easily reached a maximum speed of 100 km / h. The controllability of all wheels can also be singled out separately, which provided an acceptable turning radius for an almost seven-meter wheeled tank.
Radkampfwagen 90
Trials of the Radkampfwagen 90 began in September 1986. They demonstrated the correctness of the chosen approach and proved the need for such a machine, the combat potential of which significantly exceeded the capabilities of the SpPz 2 Luchs BRM. In general, the tests were quite successful, but historical events had the most negative impact on the project - the end of the Cold War, the disappearance of a real threat from the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist, like the organization of the Warsaw Pact. The change in the political situation and the reduction of tensions in the world put an end to this promising project. The only built prototype of a German wheeled tank is currently kept in the collection of the Military Technical Museum in the city of Koblenz. At the same time, it cannot be said that the work done has not borne any fruit. In addition to the accumulated experience, no one excludes that the project of a wheeled tank may again interest the Bundeswehr (especially in light of the changing military-political realities), the developments on the Radkampfwagen 90, including its four-axle chassis, were later used to create a family of multi-purpose wheeled armored vehicles Boxer is a joint German-Dutch production.
The performance characteristics of the Radkampfwagen 90:
Overall dimensions: length - 7100 mm, width - 2980 mm, height - 2160 mm.
Clearance - 455 mm.
Combat weight - 30,760 kg.
The power plant is a 12-cylinder four-stroke V-shaped diesel engine with a capacity of 830 hp. (610 kW).
The maximum speed is 100 km / h (on the highway).
Fuel tank capacity - 300 liters.
Armament - 105-mm rifled gun L7A3 and 7, 62-mm machine gun MG3A1
Crew - 4 people.
